Danish Renewable Energy Company Agrees To Buy RI-Based Deepwater Wind

The Public's Radio | By Avory Brookins

Published October 9, 2018 at 9:56 AM EDT

Jeff Grybowski, Deepwater Wind CEO, announces expected job creation for the company's project, Revolution Wind, during a press conference in Providence in May. Deepwater Wind has been exploring potential partnership with Orsted for the past few months.

A renewable energy company from Denmark has agreed to buy Rhode Island-based Deepwater Wind, developer of the first offshore wind farm in the country off of Block Island.

Orsted, which developed the first offshore wind farm in the world back in 1991, plans to buy Deepwater Wind for $510 million. The move comes after both companies recently competed to build what could be the nation’s first large-scale offshore wind project in Massachusetts.

Jeff Grybowski, Deepwater Wind CEO, said partnerships like these are typical in the offshore wind industry to complete bigger projects.

"It’s a way of bringing more talent to the table and more people and talent and the right set of skills to take on these complicated projects, and it also helps to have multiple companies with the ability to put together the dollars to invest," Grybowski said.

Grybowski added, this merger will accelerate offshore wind development.

"I think we see the best company at doing this in America getting together with the best company globally creating, I think, a really strong company that can build big offshore wind farms that will serve New England and frankly the rest of the East Coast," Grybowski said.

Orsted now operates more than 20 other wind farms across the globe.

Deepwater Wind is developing projects in Connecticut, Maryland and New York and is still planning to construct a second wind farm off of Rhode Island big enough to supply up to 25 percent of the state’s energy needs.

Grybowski said the combined company has the ability to serve all the states from Massachusetts to Virginia with their current projects. He said he expects the projects to be built out within the next decade.

Grybowski said the company plans to hire more people for its Providence office and plans to keep their New Bedford location open.

Orsted and Deepwater Wind’s agreement is expected to be finalized by federal regulators by the end of this year.

Their new company name will be Orsted U.S. Offshore Wind. Thomas Brostrom, President of Orsted North America, will become the company's CEO and Grybowksi will be named co-CEO.