President Donald Trump’s executive order to temporarily stop the sale of offshore wind leases in federal waters is threatening the plans of local and state leaders to build a hub of wind-power infrastructure, jobs, training and expertise to anchor the state’s effort to become a blue economy dynamo.
Orsted A/S – the Danish energy company constructing Revolution Wind, a 704-megawatt farm located about 15 miles off Point Judith – isn’t yet sure what the future holds.
Orsted spokesperson Meaghan Wims said the company is now “in the process of reviewing the White House’s executive order on wind to assess the impact on our portfolio.”
In the short term, most officials believe Trump’s moves will have limited effect on most of the wind projects under construction in southern New England waters, including Revolution Wind, Sunrise Wind – a nearby 900-megawatt project also being developed by Orsted to provide power to New York – and Vineyard Wind – an 800-megawatt project 12 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard.
SouthCoast Wind, also proposed for waters south of Martha’s Vineyard, secured its federal permits just days before Trump took office and is expected to proceed as planned. Like Vineyard, staging for the 1,200-megawatt first phase of Sunrise Wind will be based in New Bedford.
Much less certain is Starboard Wind, a 1,200-megawatt project that Orsted had said would create at least 3,800 full-time jobs, mostly in Rhode Island. The project, proposed in waters south of Block Island, has not received approvals.
For Patrick Crowley, secretary-treasurer of the Rhode Island AFL-CIO and board member of the R.I. Commerce Corp., the president’s executive order is the latest challenge for an industry that has hit its share of headwinds, from the COVID-19 pandemic to supply chain slowdowns.
“Yes, there is a concern,” Crowley said. “But when you read the executive order, it really is a pause. This industry grows and plateaus. Has periods of growth and periods of stability.”
A 2023 Rhode Island Clean Energy Industry Report compiled by the R.I. Office of Energy Resources and the R.I. Executive Office of Commerce showed clean energy employment in the state reached 14,500 jobs that year, 607 of which were exclusively in wind energy.
And CIC’s Innovation Campus in Providence now has more than 30 offshore wind-related companies as tenants. But state officials have said the goal is to foster an energy hub employing tens of thousands of people.
In addition, the Port of Providence has become a major staging area for offshore wind construction, and in August, Quonset Point officials celebrated the start of construction of the Terminal 5 Pier and Blue Economy Support Docks, part of a $234 million master plan for the Port of Davisville.
Quonset Development Corp. CEO and Managing Director Steven J. King was not immediately available to comment on Trump’s order.
Most observers believe offshore companies in Rhode Island won’t simply cut and run.
Crowley is hearing from industry leaders that they will continue to build the projects that have already been authorized and when things change, will hopefully be in a much stronger position.
U.S. Rep. Seth Magaziner, D-R.I., said any effort by Trump to stop projects that have been approved would be “clearly illegal and likely to be challenged.”
“Rhode Island is still poised to be a leader in the offshore wind industry,” he said in a statement.
Indeed, Crowley is confident offshore wind companies have enough work ahead, for now. “The [long-term] strategy is still in place. It’s the short-term and medium-term strategy that these companies are still trying to figure out,” he said.