Deepwater Wind, a New Jersey-based firm, has been selected by state officials to finance and build a massive wind farm off the coast of Rhode Island, Governor Carcieri plans to announce today.

The project, expected to cost about $1.5 billion, would be one of the largest private development projects ever in the state.

The winning developer said its anchoring technology would allow the 100-turbine wind project to be located 15 to 20 miles off the coast, a distance that would make the wind turbines practically invisible from shore.

Deepwater, a three-year-old company, beat out six other wind farm developers who had submitted proposals to build a wind-energy project large enough to generate 15 percent of Rhode Island’s electricity usage. A development of that size would be comparable to the proposed Cape Wind project and produce 385 megawatts of electricity. That’s about three-quarters of the capacity of the natural-gas fired power plant at Dominion Energy’s Manchester Street Station in Providence.

As the state’s “selected partner,” Deepwater will get the state’s “full support in getting the project done,” said Andrew Dzykewicz, the governor’s chief energy adviser. The company will have the exclusive rights to develop a wind farm off the Rhode Island coast, he said.

He said that depending on the length of the permitting process, it would take four to five years before the project could be completed.

Deepwater will sell the electricity to the state at between 7 cents and 9 cents per kilowatt-hour, Dzykewicz said. By comparison, National Grid charges its customers 12.4 cents per kilowatt-hour.

The project would not require the passage of any new legislation, and the company has agreed not to seek any new tax breaks that are not already part of state law, Dzykewicz said.

Deepwater edged out its competitors, Dzykewicz said, with its proposal to build a facility at Quonset Business Park in North Kingstown that would serve as its manufacturing headquarters for the East Coast.

Over the course of several years, Deepwater would hire up to 800 people, said Saul Kaplan, executive director of the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation, and one of the five people who comprised the selection team.

The facility would be used to manufacture the structures that would support the wind turbines. It would serve the Rhode Island wind farm and any other project that Deepwater wins along the Eastern Seaboard, he said. The jobs will pay a total of $60 million in annual wages, he said.

One of the key details –– where the project would be located –– is still undecided. The Coastal Resources Management Council has just embarked on a two-year endeavor to map the ocean floor off the coast of Rhode Island to identify the best locations for a wind farm.

Chris Brown, chief executive officer of Deepwater, said the company’s proposal included a possible site near Block Island. But Brown said the company could also build the wind farm 15 to 20 miles beyond the shoreline. That would address one of the principal concerns about offshore energy projects –– that they mar the visual seascape for coastal dwellers.

Brown said the company will work with the governor’s energy office and the CRMC to determine the site’s location. If the Block Island site is selected, the project would be located entirely in state waters. If it’s farther offshore, it would require a permit from the federal government. The U.S. Interior Department is currently developing offshore wind lease regulations. Deepwater said the Rhode Island project would consist of 100 wind turbines, each capable of producing 3 to 4 megawatts of power. Deepwater has agreed to supply electricity to Block Island, where rates are among the highest in the nation. The rest of the power would travel by undersea cable to the mainland that would tie into the regional power grid.

Brown said that the total cost of the project will likely be about $1.5 billion. The company will arrange the financing with three primary investors: First Wind Holdings Inc., a Newton, Mass.-based wind energy company; D.E. Shaw & Co., L.P. of New York, a global investment and technology development firm with more than 1,500 employees and $39 billion in investment and committed capital as of July 1, 2008; and Ospraie Management LLC of New York, one of the largest commodity hedge fund firms.

Brown said that the way Deepwater plans to anchor the wind turbines to the ocean floor is fundamentally different from the technology used by its competitors.

Traditionally, offshore wind turbines have rested atop a huge steel pole pounded deep into the sea floor. This “monopole” technology is limited to depths of about 75 feet or less, he said. But Deepwater’s turbines will rest on a “jacket” foundation –– a tower-like framework that resembles an oil derrick or an elongated lifeguard’s chair. The four-legged structures can be place in water up to 150 feet deep, he said. Jacket technology has been in the oil and gas drilling industries for years.

Deepwater is officially based in Hoboken, N.J., Brown said. But the 15-employee company really has no headquarters as of yet, he said. The Rhode Island development would be the company’s first major wind project. Deepwater is among the bidders for another offshore project, off the coast of New Jersey. The company is also seeking permission to build a small-scale research, development and demonstration project in the waters just beyond the northeastern tip of the North Fork of Long Island, New York. The Plum Island Wind Park would consist of three wind turbines.

tbarmann@projo.com