Green Jobs in Rhode Island Created in Wind Power Deal
Posted on April 7, 2010
The state of Rhode Island has embarked on massive study to develop off-shore wind farms, a move that will spur on the creation of many green jobs in Rhode Island.
New York Times reports that Rhode Island has forged ahead with its own plans to convert some of the states power source to wind. They aim to outpace and outsource Massachusetts, their neighbor to the north, which in turn has created a wind-power rivalry between the two states.
According to the Mother Nature Network, Rhode Island has invested more than $8 million of states money on research on birds, fish, habitats, and fishermans requirements, as well as areas important to Indian tribes. This is a marked departure from Massachusettss plan, which has put the states wind program in the hands of a private investor called Cape Wind.
According to the New York Times, instead of having a private developer dominate the research on potential sites, as Massachusetts has, Rhode Island embarked on a three-year scientific study, to be completed in August, of all waters within 30 miles of its coast. It has spent more than $8 million on research into bird migration patterns, wildlife habitats, fish distribution, fishermens needs and areas that might be of cultural importance to Indian tribes.
Its goal has been to head off the hurdles that have been in the way of the Massachusetts project, which has pitted coastal Indian tribes, business interest and homeowners against the developer, Cape Wind, and proponents of alternative energy. Frustrated by the failure of the two sides to broker an agreement, the Obama administrations interior secretary, Ken Salazar, has promised to determine the fate of the project on his own this month.
Rhode Island has not secured permits, but it has trumpeted what Cape Wind so far lacks: a power purchase agreement with a utility company to buy what a farm generates. Yet on Wednesday, the states utility commission rejected that pact, which involved the proposed farm off Block Island, as too costly.
So for now, Cape Wind is poised to be first, said Matt Kaplan, a wind analyst at Emerging Energy Research, a firm that tracks emerging energy markets.