By Laura Kelly | May 08, 2013 | The Block Island Times | block-island.villagesoup.com
Stalled negotiations between town officials in Narragansett and Deepwater Wind, over the landing of a 21-mile cable that will connect Block Island to the mainland’s power grid, led to a change in the company’s proposal this week.
On Monday, the Narragansett Town Council voted unanimously to suspend negotiations with Deepwater Wind until June. On Tuesday, Deepwater Wind’s CEO Jeffrey Grybowski announced that the company would revert to a plan that calls for the cable to run underground from its landing at the town beach to a switching station about a mile away.
“We’ve listened closely to the feedback from Narragansett residents and town officials, and we heard loud and clear that an underground route is the preferred option for the Block Island Wind Farm transmission system,” said Grybowski. “We’ll propose that option to the Narragansett Town Council next month, and we’ll look forward to continuing the dialogue on this important project.”
The delayed negotiations is the latest glitch in Deepwater Wind’s plans to build a five-turbine demonstration wind farm three miles southeast of Block Island and install the 21-mile cable that will bring 90 percent of the energy to the mainland. Grybowski said Wednesday that, despite the delay in negotiations, construction for the wind farm is still on schedule with onshore work slated to begin by the end of the year. The company expects to complete the permitting process for the project this summer and Grybowski is confident that an agreement for the cable landing in Narragansett will eventually be reached.
“I’m quite comfortable that we will reach an agreement with Narragansett,” Grybowski said.
For the full story see this Friday’s paper.