Deepwater Wind plans 1 GW wind farm off Rhode Island, Massachusetts

Aug 1, 2013 - US company Deepwater Wind LLC will develop a wind farm of up to 1 GW off the coasts of Rhode Island and Massachusetts after it won two offshore wind leases in federal waters yesterday.

The company said its USD-3.8-million (EUR 2.9) winning bid came in the 11th round of the US’ first-ever competitive lease auction for commercial offshore wind development. In a few months Deepwater Wind will be signing the official lease for two parcels of 164,000 acres (66 million hectares) in total.

The Deepwater Wind Energy Center (DWEC) is planned to include as many as 200 wind turbines. Most of the machines will be located up to 25 miles (40 km) from the closest landfall, thus invisible from shore. Deepwater Wind said that construction could commence in 2017, the earliest. Commercial operations can start in 2018.

According to the developer’s calculations, the DWEC will generate enough power to cover the needs of 350,000 US households, avoiding 1.7 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emission per year. “Because of the economies of scale and the continuing maturity of the American offshore wind industry, DWEC’s power price will be competitive with traditional fossil fuel power and lower than the first generation of offshore wind farms,” Deepwater Wind said.

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