Connecticut Regulators Approve Revolution Wind Power Contract

Ørsted US Offshore Wind has received approval from Connecticut regulators of its 20-year power-purchase agreement for the Revolution Wind offshore wind farm.

Connecticut’s Public Utilities Regulatory Authority today approved Ørsted’s long-term power-purchase agreement with Eversource and United Illuminating, two Connecticut utilities, for the 200 megawatts of clean energy that Revolution Wind will deliver to Connecticut. That’s enough renewable energy to power 100,000 Connecticut homes and to displace six million tons of greenhouse gas emissions.

“Connecticut is now an important player in America’s offshore wind industry,” said Jeffrey Grybowski, Co-CEO of Ørsted US Offshore Wind. “We’re proud to be building the state’s first offshore wind farm. We’re ready to make major investments in our local workforce and in the Port of New London to ramp up this project.”

With the power contract now finalized, Ørsted will accelerate development work on Revolution Wind.  Offshore installation work on Revolution Wind will begin in 2022, with the project in operations in 2023. Offshore oceanographic and geophysical survey work already began in 2018.

Deepwater Wind – now Ørsted US Offshore Wind – committed to investing at least $15 million in the Port of New London to allow substantial aspects of Revolution Wind to be constructed in New London. The company also plans to open a development office in New London and use a Connecticut-based boat builder to construct one for the project’s crew transfer vessels in Connecticut. The project is expected to create over 1,400 direct, indirect and induced jobs.

Connecticut Governor Dannel P. Malloy and the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection selected Ørsted US Offshore Wind (then Deepwater Wind)’s Revolution Wind in June in the state’s first procurement for offshore wind energy.

Revolution Wind, located in federal waters roughly halfway between Montauk, N.Y., and Martha’s Vineyard, Mass., is designed to serve as regional energy center. Rhode Island separately selected 400MW from Revolution Wind to power that state.

Ørsted acquired Deepwater Wind in October. The new combined organization—Ørsted US Offshore Wind—will be able to deliver clean energy to every coastal state in the densely-populated east coast corridor between Massachusetts and Virginia. Seven states in that region have already committed to build more than 10GW of offshore wind capacity by 2030.

The new company launches as the clear leader in the US market, with the most comprehensive geographic coverage and the largest pipeline of development capacity, totaling over 8GW.

Ørsted US Offshore Wind is joint headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts and Providence, Rhode Island.

About Ørsted in the US

Ørsted has created the leading US offshore wind platform with the most comprehensive geographic coverage and the largest pipeline of development capacity. Ørsted US Offshore Wind can deliver clean energy to the seven states on the US East Coast that have already committed to building a total of more than 10GW of offshore wind capacity by 2030.

Ørsted’s US offshore wind farms in operation (30MW in total):

• Block Island, America’s first offshore wind farm, comprises five General Electric 6MW turbines with a total capacity of 30MW. The Block Island wind farm, located 3 miles from Block Island, Rhode Island, came into operation in December 2016.

Ørsted’s US offshore wind development projects with revenue contracts awarded or under negotiation (840MW in total):

• Revolution Wind (600MW): Located within Deepwater Wind’s northern Massachusetts-Rhode Island BOEM lease area, Revolution Wind will interconnect into southern New England where it will deliver power to Rhode Island (400MW) and Connecticut (200MW). Subject to permitting, securing power purchase agreements and final investment decision, Revolution Wind is expected to be commissioned in 2023. The Revolution Wind lease area is located more than 15 miles south of the Rhode Island coast.
  
  
• Skipjack (120MW): Located more than 19 miles from Ocean City, Maryland, Skipjack will interconnect into the Delmarva peninsula where it will deliver power to the residents of Maryland under the 20-year OREC order which was issued by the Maryland Public Service Commission in 2017. Subject to permitting, further development, and final investment decision, Skipjack is expected to be commissioned by the end of 2022.
  
  
• Southfork (130MW): Located 35 miles east of Long Island, Southfork will interconnect into eastern Long Island where it will deliver power to households under a long-term power purchase agreement with the Long Island Power Authority. Subject to permitting, further development, and final investment decision, Southfork is expected to be commissioned by the end of 2022.

Ørsted’s future offshore wind development projects in the US (can potentially be developed into a total capacity of approx. 8GW):

• Bay State Wind: An up to 2GW offshore wind site off the coast of Massachusetts. Bay State Wind is located 25 miles off the Massachusetts South Coast, and 15 miles off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard. The project is a 50-50 joint venture between Ørsted and Eversource.
  
  
• Ocean Wind: An up to 3.5GW offshore wind site off the coast of New Jersey. Ocean Wind is in the early stages of development and will be located approx. 10 miles off the coast of Atlantic City.
  
  
• Garden State Offshore Energy: A 50-50 joint venture with PSEG, a leading New Jersey utility and power generation company, holds the rights to a BOEM lease off the coast of Delaware and New Jersey with the potential for approx. 1.2GW of offshore wind. 
  
  
• New England lease areas: Ørsted holds the rights to two BOEM lease areas off the coast of New England which contain the potential for a further 1.3GW with close proximity to the growth markets in the North East.
  
  
• In Virginia, Ørsted will be constructing two 6MW wind turbine positions for phase one of Dominion Energy’s Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind Project. The two companies have signed a memorandum of understanding giving Ørsted exclusive rights to discuss potential the development of up to 2GW of offshore wind capacity.

Ørsted recently acquired Lincoln Clean Energy, a leading US developer of onshore wind farms. In addition, Ørsted is active in battery storage and solar development and last year established an office in Austin, Texas, to lead those efforts.

As the world leader in offshore wind, Ørsted operates more than 1,100 offshore wind turbines. Ørsted has installed approx. 5.6GW offshore wind capacity and has a further 3.4GW under construction. In addition, Ørsted has secured the rights to build approx. 0.9GW offshore wind in the US by 2023, approx. 1.1GW in Germany by 2025, and approx. 1.8GW in Taiwan on two projects to be built in 2021 and 2025. It is Ørsted’s ambition to have installed a total of 15GW offshore wind capacity world-wide by 2025.