PROVIDENCE – After three months of negotiations, the state has completed and signed a joint development agreement with Deepwater Wind to build an offshore wind farm in Rhode Island’s coastal waters, Gov. Donald L. Carcieri announced today.

The agreement, which was signed on Friday, calls for Hoboken, N.J.-based Deepwater to build a 100-turbine wind farm capable of generating 1.3 million megawatt-hours of electricity per year, which the governor’s office says will provide 15 percent of all the electricity used in the state.

As part of the agreement, Deepwater has agreed to move up the timeline for construction of the wind farm to begin in late 2010, which will put it on pace to be the first offshore wind farm constructed in North America, according to the governor’s office.

“This agreement sets the stage for Rhode Island to be the leader in the emerging renewable energy industry in the Northeast, and brings us one step closer to increasing our use of renewable energy sources to generate 20 percent of our electricity needs,” Carcieri said in a statement.

Under the terms of the agreement, Deepwater has been given “preferred developer status,” which will allow the company first choice of the sites approved for a wind farm when the R.I. Coastal Resources Management Council finishes its Ocean Special Area Management Plan (SAMP), which is creating a zoning blueprint for the state’s ocean waters.

The agreement lays out a two-step process for the project’s construction. In the first phase, Deepwater is to build a 20-megawatt wind farm in state waters. That is the portion of the project for which construction is scheduled to begin in late 2010, with the governor’s office projecting it to be finished by the end of June 2012. The exact location of the wind farm will be based on the findings of the SAMP.

In the project’s second phase, Deepwater will construct the 1.3-million-megawatt project in federal waters after receiving approval from the U.S. Minerals Management Service, which has jurisdiction over offshore wind developments.

In the short term, Deepwater also has committed to opening a regional development office in Rhode Island by mid-April and signing a lease on land at Quonset Point. In addition, Deepwater will place the manufacturing headquarters for all its Northeast projects at Quonset, which the governor’s office says will create 800 jobs with annual wages of $60 million.

J. Michael Saul, interim director of the R.I. Economic Development Corporation, called the wind farm “a game-changing solution to Rhode Island’s energy future.”

Saul also said Deepwater’s “experience and capital resources position Rhode Island with a capable partner for this significant project.” The project is expected to cost $1.5 billion.

Carcieri announced in September that an expert panel had chosen Deepwater out of seven competing proposals as the state’s preferred developer for the wind farm. (READ MORE)

“We are delighted to have reached this important milestone with Governor Carcieri and the state of Rhode Island,” Chris Wissemann, Deepwater’s chief operating officer, said in a statement. “We are aggressively moving forward with our plan to deliver renewable energy and develop a green collar industry in the state by building North America’s first offshore wind farm.”

Wissemann added, “We are looking forward to working with state and federal authorities to begin construction in late 2010.”

Although Deepwater lost its CEO in November, company and state officials have maintained that the project is still on track. (READ MORE)

Deepwater Wind, the parent of Deepwater Wind Rhode Island LLC, is a wind-energy firm backed by energy developer First Wind (formerly UPC Wind) of Newton, Mass., and New York investors D.E. Shaw & Co. LP and Ospraie Management LLC. Founded in spring 2008, when it acquired the offshore wind projects of Long Island-based Winergy Power LLC, Deepwater Wind has its headquarters in Hoboken, N.J., with offices in Houston, New York and soon Rhode Island. Its employees who come from Winergy and First Wind have experience building onshore wind farms in other parts of the country. For more information, visit www.dwwind.com.