After several starts and stops due to pushback from the Trump administration, the Revolution Wind offshore renewable energy project is now fully operational off the coast of Rhode Island and powering homes in that state and in Connecticut.
Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont applauded the news in a press release.
“This project being fully operational is a significant milestone for Connecticut and a welcome addition to our energy mix,” Lamont said. “Revolution Wind will help to lower utility costs for families and businesses, improve the reliability of our grid, and provide clean electricity that will power 350,000 homes.”
The project helped to break offshore wind energy production records this fall, when for the first time, ISO-New England reported offshore and land-based wind farms in New England produced more electricity than all of New Hampshire’s gas and hydropower plants combined. Revolution Wind and Vineyard wind coming online helped the surge of more than 2,000 megawatts generated in September, the Concord Monitor reported.
Utility companies Eversource and United Illuminating are purchasing power from the project.
“This is an important milestone which provides much needed new energy generation to customers at a time when demand is rising,” Eversource spokesperson Tricia Taskey Modifica said in a statement.
State Sen. Norm Needleman, an Essex Democrat who co-chairs the Connecticut General Assembly’s Energy Committee, said “it’s about time” that the project came fully online.
“After all the interruptions and unreasonable assaults on a project like this by the federal government,” Needleman said, “this thing has finally come to fruition.”
Needleman said the availability of the power generated by Revolution Wind will help counter issues like gas shortages and grid unreliability in winter.
“Offshore wind will generate wind power, will generate carbon-free, reasonably priced, stable energy during the winter when we need it,” he said. “It’s a stabilizing force. It's not subject to the volatility of other sources of energy, like gas or oil or coal.”
“This is an amazing future that we have, leading us into the next 20 or 30 years, a future for my grandchildren that improves air quality and does our part for mitigating climate change,” Needleman said.
Chris Phelps, state director of the nonprofit Environment Connecticut, also said the project was great news for Connecticut and the region.
“What this really means for Connecticut is we have a new, large, and reliable source of clean, pollution-free electric generation operating right now, serving our state and serving the New England electric grid,” Phelps said. “That means we have less need for polluting power plants that have polluted our air and also are fueling climate change.”
