Nearly 11 years after Gov. Donald L. Carcieri and his administration chose Deepwater Wind to be the developer of Rhode Island’s first large-scale offshore wind-energy project, the Ocean State is one step closer to making it a reality.
The company that was chosen to put up what was expected to be 100 wind turbines to generate 385 megawatts in electricity was Deepwater Wind. But since then, the winds of change have blown through the region.
Providence-based Deepwater Wind was subsumed by Orsted U.S. Offshore Wind last October. At the time, Orsted’s Danish parent was operating 24 offshore wind farms across the globe, generating 5,100 megawatts of electricity.
Then, in February, Orsted entered into a partnership with Eversource, the Massachusetts electricity distributor, making the wind farm a joint venture.
Another change has to do with the technology itself. Whereas Deepwater said that it would need to put up 100 turbines to help fulfill the state’s renewable energy goals, Orsted’s project expects to install 85 turbines at what is now known as the Revolution Wind project and generate 700 megawatts of electricity to be split between Rhode Island (400 megawatts) and Connecticut (300 megawatts).
After the R.I. Public Utilities Commission approved the 20-year power-purchase agreement between National Grid Rhode Island and the Orsted/Eversource joint venture, the decks are almost clear – pending local, state and federal permitting – for construction of the project to begin. And for Rhode Island to do its part, however small, to clean the air and keep the lights on.