Rhode Island’s progress in making offshore wind energy a reality by 2013 should be saluted. National Grid’s agreement last week to pay Deepwater 24.4 cents per-kilowatt hour of electricity moves the process to the next step: approval by the Public Utilities Commission. The agreement follows months of negotiations over a final price per-kilowatt hour that started out at almost 31 cents per hour, which National Grid rejected back in October. Unfortunately, even at 24 cents National Grid customers – most of us who live in the Ocean State – will see an increase of $16 in 2013. This is a higher figure than previously cited because the earlier amount didn’t take account of the cost of the power cable needed to link Block Island to the mainland.

Not surprisingly, the increase has some folks grumbling already. Bloggers at my Web site, wwwlookoutri.com, were not enthusiastic over any increase, despite the promise of clean energy and a reduction in our reliance on fossil fuels. When asked if they would be willing to pay $6 to $8 more a year to subsidize offshore wind energy, which was the dollar range previously cited, comments came back calling it a “bad deal,” a “subsidy for a non-viable operation” and a “theft from the people.” When the question was then asked if it wasn’t good for the state and all of us because it would help develop an offshore wind energy industry that could be centered right here in Rhode Island, this came back: “Central planning by government bureaucrats is the basis of communist systems, not free market ones.”

Americans in general were a bit more charitable in a recent poll on the matter. When asked if they supported the offshore wind energy initiative, respondents said yes but only if it created jobs. Well, developing Quonset Point as the center for offshore wind operations – involving manufacturing, staging, supply and repair and transshipment point – would presumably do just that. If we harbor hopes that the renewable energy sector will become a new growth industry for this country, with wind energy operations certainly being a big part of that, then this vision is a good prospect for Rhode Island, which is in desperate need of new industrial activity.

America used to be a country that embraced new technologies without much hesitation. When it comes to forms of renewable energy, some people just don’t see either the need or the potential. But if Henry Ford had grown discouraged by the nay-sayers regarding his “four-wheel carriage,” as columnist Froma Harrop mentioned in a recent column, this country would never have undergone the automobile revolution. At a recent national offshore wind energy conference in Boston there was some talk about how challenging it would be for this country to accomplish what countries like Denmark have already done: create an offshore wind industry that was supplying a significant portion of the country’s total energy. Conference speakers stated that America had no practical experience in this area and would have to import European technology.

America is many times bigger than Denmark, so offshore wind energy is not going to do much for the Midwest. But those inland states are already investing in its counterpart - land-based wind power. Getting European wind energy companies to invest in operations here shouldn’t be much of a problem once they see a clear commitment to develop offshore wind farms off our shores. Why wouldn’t they look to invest in a big, new market with American-based subsidiaries? And why wouldn’t we be able to mount our own consortiums with the Europeans? Believe me, there is nothing that Americans cannot do if they put their minds and energies to it. As the self-proclaimed Ocean State, we need to invest in offshore wind energy. Manufacturing companies like mine should be looking down the road and exploring how we might get involved in supplying this new industry. There may be a fit for us there.

New Englanders face some of the highest energy costs in the nation, and although we must be sensitive to any increase in the cost of energy due to this project, we must also believe that bringing on line a new, abundant energy source will help to bring prices down in the long run. With an understanding that minus offshore wind energy our costs will surely keep rising; we need to embrace wind energy.

I share the governor’s vision when it comes to offshore wind energy off Block Island. As he told the conference attendees, “A failure to invest in renewable resources in today’s economic climate would verge on irresponsibility.” He’s got that right. Full-speed ahead with Deepwater Wind.