Deepwater Wind intends doubling the size of its proposed Rhode Island wind farm

Some industry analyst have questioned the expansion, which could now cost as much as $5billion, saying that the project may now be challenging to finance

There has been growing public opposition to the proposed offshore wind farms in the U.S. due to the high cost of the electricity generated by these wind farms. Developers have entered into agreements to sell their power to utilities at more than twice the standard rate.

"We need to get to large scale to get to competitive pricing," Deepwater Chief Executive William Moore told Global Offset Experts recently.

Competitor Cape Wind, due to start construction of its wind farm off the Massachusetts coast early next year, has signed an agreement to sell its generated power to the utility National Grid Plc at US$ 0.18,7 per kilowatt hour, while a smaller Deepwater Wind project has reached an agreement to supply the same utility at US$ 0.24, 4 per kilowatt hour. Both agreements are considerably more than double prevailing rates for the areas.

Deepwater told Global Offset Experts that it expects the expanded wind farm to sell its electricity in the “mid-teens” per kilowatt hour.

"We’ve done a lot of engineering on this project and are confident that we can come up with a cost that’s a whole lot less than what’s been discussed to date," the Deepwater CEO told Global Offset Experts.

www.globaloffsetexperts.com