Rhode Island state regulators have approved a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA) for the power delivered by an offshore wind joint venture of Ørsted and Eversource Energy.
The Rhode Island Public Utilities Commission unanimously approved the PPA with utility National Grid for 400 MW in wind power capacity from the Revolution Wind project. Project developer DWW Rev 1 LLC is a joint venture of New England utility Eversource and Ørsted U.S. Offshore Wind.
“We’re ready to get to work to deliver dramatically more offshore wind energy, jobs and energy savings to Rhode Island,” said Thomas Brostrøm, CEO of Ørsted U.S. Offshore Wind and President of Ørsted North America. “We’re proud to be Rhode Island’s partner in a project that builds upon the success of the Block Island Wind Farm to now truly transform the state’s energy future.”
Once permits are in-hand, local construction work on Revolution Wind will begin as early as 2020, with offshore installation starting in 2022 and the project in operation by 2023. Offshore oceanographic and geophysical survey work began in 2018.
“Rhode Island is making tremendous strides in achieving the state’s ambitious clean energy goals. With Revolution Wind set to deliver a quarter of the state’s total electric load, offshore wind is now poised to become a major component of the state’s energy mix,” said Lee Olivier, Eversource Executive Vice President for Enterprise Energy Strategy and Business Development.
Revolution Wind would include about 50 turbines located in federal waters between Montauk, New York, and Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts. The state of Connecticut has also selected about 300 MW from Revolution Wind in a PPA.
Ørsted operates America’s only operating offshore wind farm – the 30MW Block Island Wind Farm, developed by Deepwater Wind – in Rhode Island. The five-turbine offshore wind farm has been in operation since 2016.
Ørsted and Eversource jointly own leases capable of delivering more than 4,000 MWs of clean and affordable offshore wind energy to New England and New York.
