A recently erected wind turbine powers the new Salty Brine Beach bathhouse in Narragansett. (State Department of Environmental Management)The proposed Deepwater Wind project off Block Island has certainly been a topic of much discussion in Rhode Island during the past few years, and with good reason. Although the economic — cheap, renewable energy — and environmental — reduced carbon emissions — benefits to the state are evident, there are still many hurdles for this project to overcome.

Concerned environmentalists point to the disruption of the seafloor, namely squid and flounder habitats, which the dredging and trenching associated with such a project would require, as a deal breaker. Economic watchdogs say the money involved in the massive infrastructure upgrades necessary at the Port of Quonset and the, some would say exorbitant, price agreed upon for the power generated by such a project make it financially impractical. Fans of ocean vistas believe such a wind farm would ruin the view, thus, negatively impact tourism on Block Island.

Upon completion, the project would be expected to provide 1.3 million megawatt-hours of electricity a year — about 15 percent of all electricity used in the state. The project is expected to cost about $1 billion to build and would be financed entirely from private investment sources.

The project would be completed in two stages, with the first part to be sited in state waters and the second to take place in federal waters. The second phase, planned for federal waters off Rhode Island, will follow the first phase, the New Shoreham Offshore Wind Project. Deepwater is focusing on developing the first phase for the time being, and anticipates the entire project could be completed in three to four years.

Wherever you stand on the issue of the proposed offshore wind farm, one thing is certain: wind power is already being consumed in the Ocean State.

Anyone who drives Route 95 through Warwick has noticed the turbine on the New England Institute of Technology campus. This 1,100-kilowatt turbine contributes almost all of the electricity necessary to power the school’s automotive tech building.

The Portsmouth Abbey School’s 660-kilowatt turbine produces about 40 percent of the school’s electricity, saving about $200,000 per year, and has already paid for itself in the four years since its construction.

The town of Portsmouth, seeing the success of the Abbey School’s turbine, got in on the act and erected a 1.5-megawatt turbine at Portsmouth High School, which will provide about 75 percent of the town’s municipal power.

Middletown has erected a small 100-kilowatt turbine to provide 60 percent to 70 percent of the power needs for the Easton Pond Business Center.

The construction of Narragansett’s new Salty Brine Beach bathhouse, by the state Department of Environmental Management, included a 10-kilowatt residential turbine to generate the necessary electricity for the bathhouse, and couples that turbine with solar hot water heaters for the showers.

Rhode Island residents also are realizing the benefits of wind power. In February, John and Susan Wallace put a 1-kilowatt vertical axis wind turbine on their three-story home in Middletown. Their vertical axis turbine rotates at a much slower rate, creating less noise, and can capture wind blowing in any direction, as opposed to the horizontal axis variety, which has to face the direction of the wind to rotate. The cost of the project was less than $9,000, including installation, and is expected to generate about 25 percent of the home’s electricity needs.

These are just the already-operational wind power projects in Rhode Island. Several other wind power projects are in development.

Rhode Island Housing has approved a $15 million financing package for Sandywoods Farm, an arts and agricultural community to be built in the northeast corner of Tiverton that will consist of 50 rental cottages, 24 single-family homes and a 22-acre working farm — all to be powered by wind turbines and solar panels.

The Eco Industrial Park of Rhode Island in Tiverton is developing a 24,000-kilowatt wind farm. The Narragansett Bay Commission is developing a 5,000-kilowatt turbine that will generate up to 5 megawatt-hours of electricity annually. The Raytheon Corp. has proposed a project consisting of two 1.5-megawatt turbines on its Portsmouth campus. They are expected to be operational this year.

A number of early-stage offshore initiatives also are in the works in Rhode Island by companies such as Blue Water Wind, Blue H and Grays Harbor Ocean Energy Co. at still-to-be-determined sites.

Other municipalities and institutions that are studying wind power projects include Bristol, Jamestown, Smithfield, North Smithfield, North Kingstown, South Kingstown and the University of Rhode Island. The town of Barrington recently completed a study and found that wind power is not feasible within town limits.

It seems that, when it comes to the question of energy independence for Rhode Island, to quote Bob Dylan, “the answer is blowin’ in the wind.”

of a Clean-Energy Revolution

By CHARLIE ROBERTS/ecoRI correspondent

SGE Corp., a global engineering and construction program management firm, had a 100kW wind turbine erected at its headquarters at 55 John Clarke Road, Middletown. (Charlie Roberts photo)On Jan. 11, the Rhode Island Office of Energy Resources announced it would accept grant applications totaling $8.35 million for renewable energy projects. In February, Quonset Development Corporation received a $22.3 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation to make improvements suited for renewable energy construction and assembly.

Last year, the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation (EDC) funded 31 renewable energy projects totaling $3 million from the state’s Environmental Energy Fund. One common element of each is job creation as a decisive component, in the hopes of making the Ocean State an epicenter of the green economy.

Haluk “Luke” Durudogan looks at his place in the green economy, and is happy he chose Rhode Island to build his company Integrity Energy Group. “Our state has three very important factors that lend to a favorable green economy,” he said. “We have the third-most expensive energy costs in the country, we live in the fifth-windiest state and we have an existing skilled workforce from defense, technology and boat-building industries that translate well to the world of wind and other (renewables).”

Integrity Energy has clients in Rhode Island with grant applications currently under consideration, and several clients throughout the United States and parts of Europe. “Our philosophy is to think globally and outsource locally.” All of its projects employ local independent contractors for all installations.

Many in Rhode Island, including Gov. Donald Carcieri, believe the Ocean State can be a leading center for the emerging renewable energy field. Economic indicators show that the market has grown 19 percent in the past decade, and is forecasted to continue at a rate of 15 percent to 20 percent over the next two.

Carcieri is the vice chairman of the Governors’ Wind Energy Coalition, and has attempted to put Rhode Island at the forefront of the green economy. Durudogan believes “meaningful, sustainable change comes from inside” and that Rhode Island has an opportunity to compete with the entire world.

Haluk 'Luke' Durudogan “As a small-business owner, all I can think is we are not going to get out of this economic mess by doing the same things that got us in it,” he said. Durudogan believes we need to first make our own changes at home by promoting residential, municipal and commercial renewable energy projects. “We need to take responsibility and lead by our actions,” he said.

Integrity Energy currently has four clients with applications for Rhode Island grant money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 still under consideration. These projects range from $150,000 to $2 million for solar, wind and hydro projects. As part of the application process, Durudogan had to show how many man-hours would be created from each project. The numbers were profound.

However, that doesn’t mean that Integrity Energy will be hiring permanent positions, but rather will help to employ local small business, which comprise a large component of the state’s economy. Durudogan also believes you need to look at underlying positive affects such project have on the local economy.

“For every dollar spent on a renewable energy project, a dollar sixty is created for local industries, which then becomes two dollars to support services industries such as stores, restaurants, etc.” he said. “That is why we believe so strongly in using only local excavators, electricians and other trades for our installations.”

This may not be the job creation that most people think of, but it may just work in Rhode Island where small businesses make up 80 percent of the economy.

At the time of this story, the Rhode Island Office of Energy Resources hadn’t released money or notified any applicant of approval. Many of the applicants are individual property owners, as well as municipalities small businesses and institutions.

This is not the first time Rhode Island and the rest of the Blackstone River Valley are at the forefront of a “revolution.”

“The Industrial Revolution took place here, by utilizing the resources we had in hydropower,” Durudogan said. “Fossil fuels just made it possible for companies and factories to move elsewhere.”

Durudogan believes hydropower is making a return as a leading source for clean, renewable energy. “I see us taking the two hundred-plus mill facilities sitting dormant on the Blackstone and creating small power factories without changing the landscape.”

That is the kind of vision, he said, that will lead the “renewable revolution” that is currently underway.

As we continue to track the success of renewable energy grant money, it will be important to look at not just the number of jobs created, but also how it affects our existing small businesses and economy.

Durudogan sees Integrity Energy Group as always being a small company that employs no more than 50 people, but that doesn’t mean his company can’t have a positive impact on the state’s economy.

“I did not get in to this field to make a lot of money and then cash out in a few years,” he said. “I want my company to continue to the next generation, by following its core philosophies of honesty and integrity.”

He believes that without federal and state incentives, tax rebates and grants the renewable energy industry will have a hard time being competitive. “I want to hand this company over to my daughter someday,” Durudogan said.

of its Windy Weather

By FRANK CARINI/ecoRI staff

The Jamestown Wind Energy Committee has determined Fort Getty, middle, would be the best location to site a wind turbine. The other top choices were Beavertail, bottom, and Taylor Point. (Wind Power Feasibility Study graphic)JAMESTOWN — Some of Rhode Island’s best wind whips across Conanicut Island, and town officials and residents both agree it’s time to harness this renewable energy source.

“There’s enough wind in Jamestown. There’s a lot of wind,” said Michael Larkin, one of seven members of the Jamestown Wind Energy Committee who have spent the past two-plus years studying the idea. “We have some of the best wind in the state. Besides Little Compton and Third Beach in Middletown, Jamestown is the best area in the state for wind.”

To utilize the island’s abundant wind energy, the town has tentative plans to build a 2-megawatt wind turbine (for a comparison, the Portsmouth High School wind turbine is a 1.5-megawatt facility) at Fort Getty, on the western side of the island and in between the other two sites that were seriously considered — Beavertail to the south and Taylor Point to the north.

Beavertail offers the best wind, Larkin said, but would have been a much more expensive project. Connecting a wind turbine at that location to the existing power grid would have required longer transmission lines — it costs about $1 million per mile — and an upgrade to the old lines already there, he said.

To make up for the increased cost of siting a wind energy project such a distance away from the nearest substation, the Wind Energy Committee’s hired consultant, South Kingstown-based Applied Science Associates Inc., determined there would have to be three turbines erected at Beavertail.

The Wind Energy Committee ultimately determined that the Fort Getty site would be the most profitable, would not be a nuisance to neighbors, would fit well into existing and proposed uses at the recreational area, and would be the best location based on a host of other criteria.

The estimated cost of installing the 2-megawatt turbine at Fort Getty is $6,177,256. Over the course of 20 years, however, the energy generated by the turbine would save Jamestown nearly $3 million, according to Don Wineberg, chairman of the Wind Energy Committee.

And, unlike the Cape Wind project, which has been in the works since 2001 and has faced a relentless storm of criticism, Wineberg said he hasn’t heard a peep of opposition to Jamestown’s plan.

In fact, it’s been just the opposite. Meetings about the town’s wind energy plan have featured public pleas for more turbines. At the most recent public hearing, held last month and attended by about 60 people, no one spoke against the idea.

“I’m not sure why no one has spoken out against the plan, but I like to think that romantically we all know how important the wind is to an island community,” Wineberg said. “Many of us are sailors and wind energy is an attractive alternative.”

Potential funding sources for the $6.1 million Forty Getty wind turbine include a grant from the state’s Economic Development Corporation, a town-issued municipal bond and federal stimulus money.

If the Town Council approves a wind turbine at Fort Getty — or at one of the other proposed locations — local voters would then be asked to approve the financing, perhaps at a special financial meeting this winter or spring, during the town’s regular budget meeting in June or be put before voters as a ballot question next November.

Larkin and Wineberg both believe most local residents would like to see the town power itself with nothing but wind energy. While net metering makes the use of wind energy possible for municipalities, they said powering the entire island with wind energy wouldn’t be feasible — at least right now.

Under a state law enacted this past summer, any surplus of renewable energy generated by municipalities on city or town-owned property can now be sold to the utility company that serves the area. Before the net metering law was passed, the surplus in Rhode Island was eligible only for conversion into “renewable electricity” credits.

A 2-megawatt wind turbine at Fort Getty would produce about a quarter of Jamestown’s energy needs, according to Larkin. He said the turbine could provide power to about 600 of the island’s 2,200 or so homes.

The 146-page study was funded by a $30,000 Economic Development Corporation grant and $25,000 from the town.

Green Up New England

By FRANK CARINI/ecoRI staff

The New England GreenStart program gets its renewable energy from a variety of sources across the region. (People’s Power & Light graphic)Too many Rhode Island families annually spend the summer without electricity and hot water, according to the deputy director of People’s Power & Light.

Every year, nearly 30,000 homes have their electricity shut off come springtime because of unpaid bills accrued during the winter, Karina Lutz said. About 30 percent of those families need the entire summer to catch up on their winter heating costs.

The state’s annual moratorium on shut-offs starts Nov. 1 and typically expires in mid-April. There is no such moratorium on oil, however. “There’s no recourse for those people,” Lutz said. “Their oil tanks remain empty.”

Member donations enable People’s Power & Light to help people who are forced to choose between food or heat during the winter. Last year, the agency’s Oil Bank distributed more than $25,000 worth of fuel to provide warmth to those who needed it the most.

Since 1982, People’s Power & Light has been dedicated to making energy more affordable and, just as important, sustainable.

“With fossil fuel depletion causing trouble throughout our economy, we need renewable energy more than ever,” Lutz said.

To help facilitate the Ocean State’s move to a more environmentally friendly energy economy, People’s Power & Light has joined New England GreenStart. The effort is part of a program called GreenUp that is being offered by National Grid. GreenUp allows residential and small commercial customers to choose cleaner energy options.

“New England GreenStart helps more renewable energy projects get built faster—it costs more now, but if we build enough, renewable energy will contribute greatly to stabilizing energy prices, and eventually, it will be less expensive,” Lutz said. “Renewable energy is crucial to solving the global warming problem.”

Most of Rhode Island’s electricity comes from the burning of fossil fuels and nuclear power, but People’s Power & Light ensures GreenStart participants that an amount equal to their electric usage is added to the New England power grid from renewable sources.

GreenStart customers still pay one bill to National Grid, for both their electricity and an extra charge to “green it up” — 2.4 cents per kilowatt hour, or about $12 a month for the average residential customer, Lutz said. The GreenUp premium is tax-deductible.

National Grid passes the GreenUp portion of a customer’s bill onto People’s Power & Light so the Providence-based nonprofit can use that money to support renewable energy projects.

For example, a wind-power generator  would have trouble competing on the open market without that 2.4-cent premium, Lutz said, not because over its lifetime the wind turbine will be more expensive, but because a turbine’s costs are up front, with few operating costs and no fuel costs. In contrast, a gas-fired power plant pays for its fuel—its biggest cost—as it goes, she said.

GreenStart customers support local energy sources, which reduce harmful health impacts, have minimal effects on the environment, boost the local economy, decrease dependence on foreign oil, lower the risk of energy price spikes, and help future generations enjoy clean air and water, according to Lutz.

She said the program helps renewable energy projects get built locally. People’s Power & Light supported the wind turbine at the Portsmouth Abbey School from the start, has contracted with the Princeton (Mass.) Municipal Light Department to support the wind turbines it is now building and this year signed an agreement with the Portsmouth Economic Development Committee to buy renewable energy certificates from the Portsmouth High School wind turbine’s production for the next 10 years.

“Harnessing the wind to meet our municipal energy needs provides insurance to the town against future energy cost increases and is a clear, strong commitment to keeping Portsmouth green,” Gary Gump, of the Portsmouth Economic Development Committee, said when the agreement with People’s Power & Light was announced earlier this year.

The high school wind turbine is expected to save Portsmouth more than $4 million in energy costs over the next 20 years, according to town officials.

Besides wind power,  however,  New England GreenStart’s energy mix includes solar, landfill gas and small hydroelectric power, which are all sited in New England and mostly in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

Current enrollment in the New England program is about 8,000, according to People’s Power & Light.