Word that Cape Wind LLC has joined Deepwater Wind LLC in signing an option to lease land at the Quonset Business Park is welcome news. Both projects, despite continuing legal challenges, are moving toward fruition of their ambitious plans to put industrial-scale wind farms in the Atlantic Ocean off the coasts of Rhode Island and Massachusetts (as well as the five-turbine demonstration project off Block Island that Deepwater Wind is nearly completely permitted for).
That both developers have inked deals with the Quonset Development Corporation is evidence that the quasi-public agency has done a good job developing one of the state’s major assets. What is even more interesting is the fact that Cape Wind has signed the deal even as Massachusetts sinks $100 million into developing the New Bedford Marine Commerce Terminal, in large measure to serve as the staging ground for Cape Wind.
In the end, maybe the QDC option is just a head fake for Cape Wind. Even so, the North Kingstown business park is doing something right. •