Deepwater Deal

Electricity deals don't generally scream "excitement." But Governor Carcieri's announcement of a 20-year agreement for National Grid to buy power from Deepwater Wind, the company planning a 106-turbine wind farm off the coast of Rhode Island, is about as exciting as these things get.

The deal - the second of its kind in the nation - should strengthen Deepwater's pitch for financing for the project, allowing Rhody to move one step closer to realizing its vision for a clean energy hub.

But if this is a milestone in that effort, the state is hardly assured of success, as I reported this summer. There is heavy competition, from Massachusetts to Delaware, to develop the Silicon Valley of wind energy. And there are all sorts of exotic engineering hurdles to be cleared.