Future of Block Island Wind
Farm
As
we face threats from climate change, alternative energy sources are becoming
more important and advanced.
Rhode Island is taking the lead with the
Block Island Wind Farm, a project that has involved University of Rhode Island
students and professors from the beginning.
Now the public can find out what they’ve
learned. URI’s Graduate School of Oceanography is sponsoring a discussion about
the project’s history, challenges and effect on the marine environment.
The talk—part of the student-led “Bay Informed Discussion Series”—will start at 7 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 21 in the Watkins building on the Bay campus, 215 South Ferry Road, Narragansett. The event is free.
“We’ve gotten a lot of questions specific to the wind farm at past events,” says Joe Langan, one of the organizers of the series and a doctoral student at GSO. “We wanted to take this opportunity to bring our audience behind the scenes of the development of this wind farm and discuss what those lessons mean for future installations.”
The speakers will be Chris O’Reilly, a
doctoral student in ocean engineering who works with Professor Stephan Grilli
and Monique LaFrance-Bartley, who works with Professor John King in geological
oceanography.
O’Reilly, who completed his master’s
thesis on the wind farm, is expected to talk about the possibility of building
wind farms in other parts of the country and world, and the challenges of
building an offshore wind farm, including efforts to find the best location for
the turbines.
 |
| Chris (at the far right) at his day job working as a engineer at maritime design firm Navatek in Peacedale. |
EDITOR’S NOTE: In the interest of full disclosure, Chris O’Reilly
is our nephew. He’s the son of Cathy’s brother Mike and his wife Jeanne. – Will
Collette
Bartley-LaFrance
will follow with a discussion about the Rhode Island Ocean Special Area
Management Plan—a guide for the state’s coast and waters—and whether the marine
ecosystem has changed since the installation of the wind farm.
The purpose of the monthly series is to
inform the public about important environmental and scientific issues involving
the ocean and encourage residents to get involved in these issues locally and
nationally.
So far, up to 100 people have attended
each talk, which have included topics such as climate change and carbon levels
in the ocean. They will be held every Thursday at the same time and place.
For more information, email gsobayinformed@gmail.com or
visit the organizers’ Facebook page at https://m.facebook.com/bayinformed/