PROVIDENCE – Gov. Daniel J. McKee on Wednesday boasted of the jobs that will accompany the state’s ambitious renewable energy goals, including new state legislation to procure another 600-megawatts worth of offshore wind energy.
“A decade ago, these were the jobs of the future,” McKee said at a press conference at ProvPort. “But now these are the jobs of today.”
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But how many wind-related jobs are filled or for hire right now in Rhode Island is unclear. No one from McKee’s office or from R.I. Commerce Corp. could say how many offshore wind-related jobs have been created.
A slew of state and federal reports released in recent years suggest that “thousands” of jobs will be created by this nascent industry, though exact figures vary. One example, the Revolution Wind project, an 88-turbine giant slated for Rhode Island Sound, is estimated to create 1,100 construction jobs across Rhode Island and Connecticut and 200 ongoing maintenance jobs, as well as a $40 million investment in port infrastructure upgrades in Rhode Island, according to joint developers Orsted A/S and Eversource Energy.
Asked how many of those jobs had been filled thus far, Meaghan Wims, a spokesperson for the two companies, named the 40 workers who helped to build Orsted’s recently finished ProvPort facility, which will be used to build turbine foundations.
“Additional positions are expected when construction work within the facility begins this summer,” Wims said, although she did not say how many jobs would be added.
On a regional level, Rhode Island’s role in offshore wind is poised to add up to 35,000 full-time jobs along the East Coast by 2028, according to a 2020 economic report commissioned by R.I. Commerce Corp. And that doesn’t factor in Biden administration’s ambitious renewable energy targets; Biden’s goal to hit 30 gigawatts worth of offshore wind energy by 2030 is projected to add 80,000 jobs nationwide.
But with many of the projects that will create these sweeping economic impacts still years away from construction, it appears that most of those jobs have yet to materialize.
A report by the R.I. Office of Energy Resources clocked 538 workers in wind energy companies -both on and offshore – as of 2020, about 3% of the 16,348 people employed in renewable energy work statewide.
Still, proponents insist there’s more than meets the eye.
“Right now, it’s happening behind the scenes,” said Michael Sabitoni, president of the Rhode Island Building and Construction Trades Council. “You’ve got the engineering, surveying, accounting all happening.”
At least 18 such companies have set up offices in Cambridge Innovation Center Providence. According to R.I. Commerce Secretary Stefan Pryor, that’s proof that businesses see the potential and are committed to bringing their expertise – and jobs – to Rhode Island.
While many of these national and global businesses have only a handful of employees in their Rhode Island offices, they are gearing up to hire in earnest, Pryor said.
That will not be the case for British wind maintenance technician GEV Wind Power US, which confirmed on Wednesday that it had abandoned plans to hire and train 123 wind turbine technicians and build a training facility in Quonset.
Nonetheless, Pryor insisted Rhode Island was well-positioned to see an economic windfall from this nascent but growing industry, especially under a new presidential administration that has made renewable energy a top priority.
And McKee’s push to put out the bid on more offshore wind suggests he’s falling in line with those priorities.
The procurement was first announced by then-Gov. Gina M. Raimondo in October 2020. The bid was put on hold amid the pending sale of Narragansett Electric Co. from National Grid to PPL Corp., according to Ted Kresse, a spokesman for National Grid.
The sale of Rhode Island’s utility business is still pending, tied up in court in Massachusetts, but McKee’s administration is forging ahead anyway, something Kai Salem, policy coordinator of Green Energy Consumers Alliance was glad to see.
“It’s a big [expression] of support from the governor,” Salem said, though she acknowledged that it was “certainly possible” the bid process could drag on for another year or more.
The legislation introduced at McKee’s request this week gives an August deadline for the RFP to go out, but no timeline for when a bid is to be selected or the requisite state and federal approvals granted.
However, proponents say the project doesn’t have to get off the ground for the jobs in infrastructure work or manufacturing to start rolling in.
“Over the next four years before that first wind turbine goes up in the sky, I think we’re going to see those jobs start to materialize,” said Patrick Crowley, secretary and treasurer of the Rhode Island AFL-CIO.
The Senate Environment and Agriculture Committee held a first hearing on the Senate bill, sponsored by Sen. Dawn Euer, D-Newport, on Wednesday. Companion legislation in the House from Rep. Rep. Arthur Handy, D-Cranston, has not yet been scheduled for a hearing.
Nancy Lavin is a PBN staff writer. You may reach her at Lavin@PBN.com.
