More wind turbines coming to Rhode Island

PROVIDENCE – More wind power is coming to the state’s largest wastewater treatment plant, and to Rhode Island.

The Narragansett Bay Commission recently agreed to begin negotiations to buy three wind turbines that are under construction in Coventry. The three 1.5-megawatt Vensys turbines are expected to be completed by July and fully operational by the end of the year, according to ecoRI News.

The project is part of a commitment by the quasi-state agency to produce 100 percent renewable energy. The commission’s three turbines on the city’s waterfront supply about 40 percent of the electricity needs for its energy-intensive sewage and stormwater treatment operations.

The new turbines, combined with a project to capture and burn biogas emissions at the commission’s Bucklin Point facility in East Providence, as well as plans for solar arrays, will help the agency reach its 100 percent goal within five years. The 600-kilowatt biogas project is expected to be completed by the end of this year.

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The project’s developer, Wind Energy Development LLC of North Kingstown, has plans to build 30 or more of the 400-foot turbines in the state during the next three years. •

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