Starting with a development off the Rhode Island coast, the federal government said it was studying the real-time impacts of offshore wind farm construction.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management said it started its Real-Time Opportunity for Development Environmental Observations -- or RODEO -- program with Rhode Island.

BOEM Chief Environmental Officer William Brown explained the program will provide real-time data on potential environmental impacts and seafloor disturbances related to wind farm installation offshore.

"The first opportunity to conduct this research is through the historic Deepwater Wind project," he said.

The Rhode Island government in May 2014 signed off on environmental permits for what will become the nation's first offshore wind farm, Deepwater Wind's Block Island project.

The wind farm will generate enough power to meet the annual energy demands of more than 17,000 households.

Wind energy development up and down the New England coast has been met with opposition from preservationists worried about the potential threat to coastal habitats and aesthetics. An opposition campaign has evolved around the Cape Wind project planned for Nantucket Sound.

New acreage may be available offshore to companies looking to develop wind energy programs in U.S. federal and state waters. Earlier this month, BOEM said a multi-year vetting process concluded there would be no significant environmental impacts associated with developing wind farms off the coast of North Carolina.

There are no offshore wind farms in commercial operation in the United States.

"For offshore wind development, there is no previous experience in the United States, so the analyses and subsequent mitigation measures are based on the best available science," BOEM said.

Construction on Rhode Island's offshore wind program began in July.