RHODE ISLAND – March 13, 2023 – Rhode Island’s offshore wind leaders Ørsted and Eversource today announced they have submitted a joint proposal in response to the state’s offshore wind solicitation. Delivering clean, reliable renewable power for more than 500,000 Rhode Island homes, the proposed 884-megawatt Revolution Wind 2 represents more than $2 billion in direct economic benefits to Rhode Island’s blue and green economies, including the creation of hundreds of local jobs and unprecedented investments in port improvements and shipbuilding.
Ørsted and Eversource are leading the buildout of a homegrown American offshore wind industry, and Revolution Wind 2 will further advance the state’s leadership position in this growing green jobs sector. If selected, Revolution Wind 2 will create hundreds of jobs; deliver crucial port investments that expand Rhode Island’s role in the offshore wind industry; advance environmental justice; and create inclusive training and career opportunities for historically marginalized Rhode Islanders.
Together with Ørsted and Eversource’s Revolution Wind – the state’s first utility-scale offshore wind farm – Revolution Wind 2 would help advance the state’s 100-percent clean energy by 2033 climate goal. The carbon emissions achieved by Revolution Wind 2 would be the equivalent of taking more than 265,000 cars off New England roads.
“From the ‘starting five’ at America’s first offshore wind farm to the major work already underway for Revolution Wind, we’re proud to be Rhode Island’s trusted offshore wind partner,” said David Hardy, Group EVP and CEO Americas at Ørsted. “We’re ready to deliver even more good-paying jobs and affordable clean energy to the Ocean State, and we’re confident that our new proposal will advance Rhode Island’s climate goals while delivering on the promise of a sustainable economic engine rooted in thriving port facilities and powered by local union labor.”
“We’re answering Rhode Island’s call for more offshore wind energy with a proposal that builds upon the groundwork we’ve laid in the Ocean State with our significant investments in port infrastructure, workforce training and the local supply chain,” said Joe Nolan, Chairman, President and CEO of Eversource Energy. “Our latest proposal harnesses the unmatched combination of our onshore, regional transmission expertise together with Ørsted’s considerable offshore capabilities. We applaud state leaders for their commitment to combatting climate change and delivering a clean-energy future for Rhode Islanders.”
If selected, Revolution Wind 2 will deliver unprecedented economic and environmental investments in Rhode Island, including:
Revolution Wind 2 will also make tens of millions of dollars of direct investments to support Rhode Island’s supply chain and supplier diversity, workforce training, education and research, environmental justice and biodiversity, putting Rhode Islanders front and center.
Ørsted and Eversource are developing the 704MW Revolution Wind project and are expected to start construction on the project later this year. Revolution Wind will deliver 400 megawatts of clean, affordable offshore wind power to nearly 200,000 Rhode Island homes. The project is expected to be operational in 2025.
Under Governor McKee’s leadership, Rhode Island is building on its leadership role as home to America’s first offshore wind farm, the Block Island Wind Farm, as well as the state with the most ambitious clean energy target in the nation. Already, Rhode Island has become a leader in developing a homegrown offshore wind supply chain, including a thriving industry hub of nearly 30 companies at Providence CIC, and the state has begun training the future offshore wind workforce. In July 2022, Governor McKee announced Rhode Island’s second competitive offshore wind solicitation. This second solicitation marks additional momentum toward achieving Rhode Island’s 100-percent renewable by 2033 goal and its Act on Climate Act emissions reduction target.
The joint venture between Ørsted, the leading U.S. offshore wind energy partner, and Eversource, New England’s largest energy provider and experts in regional energy transmission, was established in 2016 and together the two companies have invested in building the American offshore wind supply chain and next generation of the nation’s energy workforce. Through its industry-leading National Offshore Wind Agreement, the developers were the first in the U.S. to commit that its offshore construction would be completed by an American union workforce, emphasizing the developers’ commitment to good-paying jobs, workforce training and safety.
As part of Revolution Wind, Ørsted and Eversource have already