admin
Revolution Wind has successfully completed installation of the project’s first offshore wind turbine, an historic milestone for Rhode Island and Connecticut’s first large-scale offshore wind farm and the first multi-state offshore wind farm in the nation.
A centerpiece of the region’s blue economy, Ørsted and Eversource’s Revolution Wind is directly creating roughly 1,200 jobs across Rhode Island and Connecticut and accelerating the states’ clean energy sectors with significant investments in workforce development, union partnerships, shipbuilding, and port infrastructure.
Revolution Wind will utilize 65 Siemens Gamesa turbines, the same 11-MW turbine model used at the recently completed South Fork Wind. Once in operation, Revolution Wind will have the capacity to generate 400 MW of clean, affordable offshore wind power for Rhode Island and 304 MW of the same for Connecticut, enough to power more than 350,000 homes and bring both states closer to reaching their climate targets.
“This is a monumental moment for Revolution Wind, the Northeast region, and Rhode Island,” said Rhode Island Governor Dan McKee. “The installation of the first turbine speaks to the strong private and public partnership driving the project forward. Rhode Island is excited to build upon this progress and lead in clean energy and the offshore wind economy for decades to come.”
“Revolution Wind is going to have a major impact in the Northeast when it comes to delivering clean energy,” said Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont. “The completion of this first turbine represents a milestone as we work towards decarbonizing our electric grid while also creating new, good-paying jobs in this growing sector for Connecticut residents.”
“Seeing the first turbine rise above the water at Revolution Wind is another unforgettable moment for this new American energy industry we’re building together,” said David Hardy, Group EVP and CEO Americas at Ørsted. “Revolution Wind is bringing local union jobs and economic development to Rhode Island and Connecticut, and it will deliver clean offshore wind power to hundreds of thousands of homes in the region. We thank our state and federal partners, our hard-working construction, marine and safety teams, and our local labor, port, and supply chain partners, as we continue building this historic project.”
“Today we celebrate a major offshore wind milestone with the installation of the first turbine for Revolution Wind, and it is a milestone made possible by the hundreds of hardworking tradesmen and women at our region’s ports,” said Joe Nolan, Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer of Eversource Energy. “From building and marshaling the turbine foundations to constructing the onshore transmission system, the work happening at State Pier, ProvPort and Quonset is making this first-of-its-kind, multi-state offshore wind project a reality. We look forward to continuing our progress and, for the first time, bringing commercial-scale, 100% renewable offshore wind energy to Rhode Island and Connecticut.”
Revolution Wind’s offshore construction phase is powered by hundreds of union workers, three Northeast ports, and a variety of vessels – all supporting work to install the wind farm’s foundations, two offshore substations, inter-array and export cables, and wind turbines. All the work is done according to Revolution Wind’s local, state and federal approvals and with the strictest safety standards.
Meanwhile, offshore construction crews continue to make steady progress installing the foundations for the turbines, with more than three-quarters of the foundations now in place offshore.
Three New England ports are playing central roles in the effort to build Revolution Wind:
- State Pier in New London, Connecticut, is serving as the staging and marshaling port for the project, where the turbines are being assembled by local union labor. Ørsted and Eversource have invested more than $100 million in the State Pier redevelopment project.
- In Providence, crews are handling loadout of the advanced foundation components, which were built by more than 125 local union workers at Ørsted and Eversource’s construction hub at ProvPort. Ørsted and Eversource invested $100 million in the work at their ProvPort hub, making it the largest offshore wind supply chain investment in Rhode Island’s history.
- The ECO EDISON, the first-ever American-built, owned, and crewed offshore wind service operations vessel, is based out of ProvPort during Revolution Wind’s construction.
- Revolution Wind’s crew helicopters and Rhode Island-built crew transfer vessels are based out of that state’s Quonset Point.
Onshore construction continues in North Kingstown, Rhode Island, on the project’s transmission system.
The Revolution Wind project site, roughly 15 miles south of the Rhode Island coast and 32 miles southeast of the Connecticut coast, is adjacent to Ørsted and Eversource’s South Fork Wind, America’s first utility-scale offshore wind farm. Ørsted recently marked the groundbreaking for another neighboring project, Sunrise Wind.
News item from Ørsted
