Wind power in Rhode Island

Wind power in Rhode Island is in the early stages of development. There are several small scale wind turbine projects in the state. As of December 2013 there were 11 turbines at 10 sites in the state. As of 2014 Rhode Island had 9 MW of wind power.

Rhode Island’s first commercial was constructed in March 2006 at Portsmouth Abby on Aquidneck Island. Construction for the Block Island Wind Farm began in 2015.

There are several 18th and 19th century windmills in Rhode Island. NASA built an experimental wind turbine on Block Island in 1979.

In March 2006 the Portsmouth Abbey School installed a 660-kW V-47 turbine on Aquidneck Island.

Installed in 2009, the Portsmouth High School turbine had been the largest producer of electricity produced by wind power. until faltering in 2012. In 2014, the municipality voted to replace it.

Brought on line in 2012, the three wind turbines at Fields Point in Providence are each rated at 1.5 mW. Manufactured by Goldwind USA, they each have 150 ft (46 m) blades and height of 364 ft (111 m) and together supply about 40 to 50 percent of the electricity used by the Narragansett Bay Commission's (NBC) regional waste and storm water treatment facility.

A single 413 ft (126 m) turbine in North Kingstown came on line in 2012.

Construction for the Block Island Wind Farm began in 2015. It came online at the end of 2016.

Ten 1.5-megawatt turbines in Coventry have been proposed

In 2009, the municipalities on the shores of the Easy Bay and Aquidneck & Conanicut Island formed an advisory group that worked through the legislative session of 2012 to build a wind-farm. The group consisted of professionals and community leaders, and sought to determine the viability of a wind-power facility in the hills of Tiverton near RI route 24 and the border with Fall River, Massachusetts. The group generated over two years of wind data from the Tiverton heights. The 10 turbine development project would have provided energy to the East Bay and islands directly via an agreement with National Grid. Legislation to establish a legal entity died in the Rhode Island General Assembly in 2012 over disagreements concerning state powers. Earlier in 2012, Apex Wind Energy competed in courting the City of Tiverton for use of the land, which included a proposed-but-never-built industrial park, and segments of Tiverton Water Department and North Tiverton Fire Department land.

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