NARRAGANSETT -- In response to objections from local officials and residents, Deepwater Wind is set to change its plan to bring a transmission line into Narragansett from a proposed offshore wind farm near Block Island.
Deepwater CEO Jeffrey Grybowski said on Tuesday that the company will commit to burying new power lines that would run through Narragansett as part of the transmission project, rather than installing them overhead on poles.
The change would mark a return to the original plan that was presented to the public in 2011. Grybowski said that his company initially made the switch to overhead lines because of cost concerns and ease of construction -- it's easier to string lines on existing poles as opposed to laying them under streets -- but he admitted that the local reaction had been less than positive.
"We understand the concerns the folks in the neighborhood have about the overhead lines," he said from Chicago, where he was attending a national wind power conference.