Rhode Island’s Coastal Resources Management Council voted unanimously in favour of the five-turbine project on Tuesday night, handing Deepwater Wind what it has deemed the most critical permit it needs to get its wind farm into the water.
The US Army Corps of Engineers must still approve the $250m project, but the developer expects to have that permit in hand within a matter of weeks.
Deepwater Wind, owned by the hedge fund DE Shaw, has already begun onshore assembly of the five Alstom Haliade 6MW turbines that will be installed starting next year some three miles (5km) off the coast of Block Island, in the Rhode Island Sound.
Deepwater
