Rhode Island offshore wind project cleared to begin construction
Offshore

Rhode Island offshore wind project cleared to begin construction

The Department of the Interior announced its approval of Ørsted and Eversource’s Revolution Wind project, which is now cleared for construction. Located about 15 nautical miles southeast of Point Judith, Rhode Island, the project will have an estimated capacity of 704 MW, capable of powering nearly 250,000 homes. The project is expected to create an estimated 1,200 local jobs during the construction phase.

Rhode Island Energy has already begun work to replace nine miles of power lines to allow power from the project to be added to the grid. Many of the older power lines and substations need to be updated in order to connect the Revolution Wind farm to RIE’s power grid, the utility said.

The offshore wind industry has been grappling with uncertainties recently, with multiple power purchase agreements (PPAs) coming to an end, and developers and utilities backing out of projects. Rhode Island Energy recently pulled out of its PPA with Ørsted and Eversource for the Revolution Wind 2 offshore project, citing higher interest rates, increased expenses, and questionable federal tax credits, concluding that the project had become uneconomical. Avangrid requested to terminate the PPA signed with Eversource Energy, National Grid, and Uniti for the Commonwealth Wind offshore farm last year, and Shell and Ocean Winds North America have decided to attempt to terminate the PPA for the SouthCoast Wind offshore wind project.

The Record of Decision for the Revolution Wind project marks the nation’s fourth commercial-scale offshore wind project to pass this final major regulatory milestone and brings the current U.S. pipeline of projects approved for construction to 2.7 GW of offshore wind energy. According to the analysis by the Business Network for Offshore Wind, more than 13 GW of projects await final environmental review.

The announcement also marks another step in fulfilling President Biden’s goal to deploy 30 GW of offshore wind energy capacity by 2030. Other approved commercial-scale projects include the Vineyard Wind project offshore Massachusetts, the South Fork Wind project offshore Rhode Island and New York, and the Ocean Wind 1 project offshore New Jersey.

With this milestone, BOEM remains on track to complete reviews of at least 16 offshore wind project plans by 2025, representing more than 27 GW of clean energy.

After considering the final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) alternatives, including public comments received on the draft EIS, the Department has approved Revolution Wind’s construction and operations plan under its preferred Alternative G identified and analyzed in the EIS. This preferred alternative will install fewer wind turbines than originally proposed by the developer to reduce impacts to visual resources, benthic habitat, and ocean co-users. Alternative G includes up to 79 possible locations for the installation of 65 wind turbines and two offshore substations within the lease area.

The Record of Decision includes a range of measures aimed at avoiding, minimizing, and mitigating the potential impacts that may result from the construction and operation of the project. Among them, Revolution Wind has committed to establishing fishery mitigation funds to compensate losses directly arising from the project incurred by recreational and commercial fisheries in Rhode Island and Massachusetts, and to creating a direct compensation program to reimburse lost revenues for fisheries from other states. Additionally, Revolution Wind has committed to measures such as vessel speed restrictions and construction clearance zones to reduce the potential for impacts to protected species, such as marine mammals, sea turtles, and Atlantic sturgeon.

BOEM worked with Tribes, federal, state and local government agencies, and reviewed more than 120 comments provided by industry, ocean users, and other key partners and stakeholders to develop these mitigation measures.

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