Firm: Build wind farm over the horizon

A Rhode Island company in the running to deliver new blocks of energy to LIPA has a solution to the problem that has dogged wind-energy projects on Long Island: place its giant turbines deep in the waters off southern New England so that they would not be visible from shore.

Officials at Deepwater Wind said Thursday they responded to a recently closed bidding process by LIPA that includes an offer of up to 600 megawatts of power from a proposed 150-200-turbine wind plant in waters closer to Martha's Vineyard than to Montauk. Deepwater has already applied for a lease in the area of the Atlantic that will house the wind farm, which could also feed power to Rhode Island, Connecticut and southern Massachusetts.

The four-phase plan calls for up to 1,000 megawatts of wind energy, with new turbines supplying 6-7 megawatts each, compared with existing ones that supply less than half that amount. The entire cost for the Rhode Island project, already the subject of a federal lease application, is $4 billion to $5 billion, including interconnection cables. It's unclear just how much the 300 megawatts of wind power being offered to LIPA would cost.

The turbines would be 30 miles southeast of Montauk and 25 miles from Martha's Vineyard, in deep water southeast of Block Island.

At the same time, Deepwater Wind said it is close to filing a lease application for a separate wind plant off the western end of Long Island that could supply energy to LIPA, New York City and New Jersey. It would be 30 miles south of Long Beach and 20 east of the Jersey coast.

Both projects would incorporate extensive undersea cables to connect to power grids in New Jersey and New England, Deepwater Wind officials said, adding that energy from the project "can be competitive with new gas-fired power plants."

Deepwater Wind is among 16 different entities that filed 45 different proposals to LIPA, which seeks 2,500 megawatts of new power for the region. LIPA, on its website, confirmed Deepwater Wind is one of the bidders, but has not elaborated on proposals.

The field of bidders is considered competitive, meaning Deepwater's project could be a long shot. The list includes some of the large players in the energy field. LIPA Chief Michael Hevery said the authority is in the early stages of reviewing the proposals.

William Moore, chief executive and managing director of Deepwater Wind, said in an interview Thursday that the new turbines, potentially standing more than 600 feet tall, would be "over the horizon" and never seen from Long Island shores. The project would rely on an undersea power cable dozens of miles long that would connect to Long Island at the former Shoreham nuclear plant site.

The Deepwater Wind project would attempt to quell concerns of fishermen by locating its larger, more powerful turbines about a mile apart, thus allowing commercial fishing between turbines, which would be installed in water at depths up to 150 feet, Moore said.

One wind proponent was encouraged to hear of the Deepwater Wind proposal.

"It's good to see there are potentially serious wind projects being proposed and considered for Long Island," said Neal Lewis, a LIPA trustee and executive director of Molloy College's Sustainability Institute. He said he hadn't seen the proposal and wasn't endorsing it specifically.