Big hurdles hinder small state's wind ambitions
PROVIDENCE -- New England needs new electricity sources and has some of the highest electricity rates in the nation. Wind is free and abundant along the coastline. And unlike fossil fuels, wind turbines do not produce the greenhouse gases blamed for global warming.
All of those factors were behind Rhode Island Gov. Don Carcieri's pledge nearly two years ago to bring wind power to a state where there is just one operating wind turbine. His goal was to get 15% of the state's electrical power from wind by 2011 — which would require about 100 turbines.
Several major challenges now stand in the way of the small state's big plans.
Among them: No one has decided where to put a wind farm, it's not clear how the project will be paid for, and public opposition — a major wild card — is unknown, according to Carcieri's top energy adviser, Andrew Dzykewicz.
Still, Dzykewicz is hopeful Rhode Island will be getting a large portion of its energy from wind by sometime after 2012.
Hoping to stabilize electricity costs and increase supply, Carcieri in January 2006 announced an energy plan that eventually included measures such as using hydropower, reforming the state's electric market, reducing state government's energy consumption and promoting the use of wind power. Later, he said he thought the state could reach the wind goal around the time his term ends in 2011.
This spring, his administration proposed building about 100 offshore wind turbines in Narragansett Bay, enough to power about 175,000 homes. The only major wind turbine in the state is at Portsmouth Abbey, a monastery and school.
Wind power generates less than one megawatt of electricity in Rhode Island, a tiny blip compared to the national leader, Texas, which has enough wind turbines to churn out almost 4,000 megawatts, according to the American Wind Energy Association, an industry group.
While Carcieri's administration has made some progress, it's been slow going.
"We won't have the blades turning by the time he's gone," Dzykewicz said.
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