“We’re excited because we think it’sprobably the most near-term opportunity for a revenue contract for offshorewind in the US,” he says. “We feelpretty good about our chances.” The submission deadline is 31 March.
Last year, Deepwater won the first US competitive offshorewind energy lease auction, paying $3.83m for the opportunity to develop twoparcels in federal waters facing Rhode Island and Massachusetts.
The North Lease Area comprises about 97,500 acres (394.5sqkm) and the South Lease Area about 67,250 acres. They are roughly 17 miles(27.2km) from shore on the outer continental shelf and can accommodate “well over” 1GW of generation capacity,according to Grybowski.
The developer calls its future projects there the Deepwater Wind Energy Center (DWEC) , which will also serve New England.
Deepwater, which is based in Rhode Island, plans to developthem in phases over time as opportunities become available to sell power.
“Our idea today is hopefully secure a revenue contract fromLIPA and build that first phase to satisfy that contract,” he says.
Deepwater would deliver electricity from the offshore array toLong Island via a new submarine high-voltage direct current cable.
He notes that Deepwater has been working to detail theeconomic, energy security and environmental benefits of its offshore supply proposalwith a variety of stakeholders on Long Island.
If Deepwater does win a contract with LIPA, it would strive for2018 commercial operation. That would be a firm test for the untried permittingsystem for offshore wind that the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management is workingto streamline.
