One of the big selling points for proponents of offshore wind here in Rhode Island has been: “Look at how Deepwater Wind lowered Block Island’s electric rates!”

This was, in fact, one of the things that Senator Sam Zurier said, at Minute 12:00, in his interview “In the Dugout” with Mike Stenhouse a couple of weeks ago.  (A very interesting interview; please check out the whole thing.)

Two problems with this assertion.  Firstly, this is a misleading comparison inasmuch as Block Island’s electric rate is and has always been higher than that of mainland Rhode Island.

Secondly, more to the point, Block Island NEVER directly purchased power from Deepwater Wind, now the Block Island Wind Farm.  At $260 per mega-watt hour, Deepwater Wind’s power was much too expensive.

This Block Island Power Company document alludes to this fact:

How come Block Island doesn’t buy the wind farm power?

❑ The starting price of the wind farm power in 2016 was roughly $260 per mega-watt hour. Block Island was able to procure power for less than $40 per mega-watt hour at that time.

And a representative of the Block Island Power Company confirmed explicitly in a conversation on January 21 that Block Island never directly purchased the power generated by Deepwater Wind, nor was that ever the plan because the power was too expensive.  He noted that the big selling point of Deepwater Wind for island residents and businesses was the undersea cable, as referenced in the above document, that would be installed as a part of the project, a cable that would enable the island to tap into the far less expensive (for them) mainland energy markets for the first time.  From the beginning, the power generated by Deepwater Wind was intended to be purchased by National Grid, not Block Island, to supply the state’s electric grid.

Note, by the way, that National Grid had to be compelled to purchase Deepwater Wind’s exorbitantly expensive power by the then-governor and General Assembly, who also quashed the strong objection raised by the RI PUC on behalf of state ratepayers.

In sum, Block Island, National Grid and the Rhode Island Public Utilities Commission all found Deepwater Wind’s power much too expensive.  I would agree, accordingly, that we can all extrapolate a lesson from the Block Island/Deepwater Wind experience with regard to offshore wind – though possibly not the one that proponents envision.

[Featured image by Mike Setchell via Unsplash]