The Connecticut Port Authority announced Tuesday that the cost of redeveloping the New London State Pier into a launching point for offshore wind turbines has skyrocketed by more than $47 million, more than three times the original estimate for the project.
Officials with the Port Authority said during a board meeting that they will ask the State Bond Commission, which is chaired by Gov. Ned Lamont, to borrow more than $23 million through public bonds to pay for the ongoing cost overruns.
They said another $23 million will be provided by Eversource and Orsted, two energy companies that partnered with the state to rebuild the maritime facility.
David Kooris, chairman of the Port Authority, said the agency is also requesting several million dollars in contingency funding from the state bond commission to potentially cover future cost overruns.
Neither the governor’s office nor officials with Eversource and Orsted responded immediately to requests for comment on Tuesday.
This is not the first time the State Pier project’s budget has ballooned substantially.
When officials launched the project in 2019, state officials claimed the redevelopment effort would cost roughly $93 million. Since then, the Port Authority has repeatedly revised the overall cost, including last May when the budget was increased to roughly $255 million.
At that time, Kooris assured members of the state bond commission that the Port Authority would not seek any additional taxpayer money for the redevelopment, which is considered one of the largest maritime projects in the state’s history.
It became apparent in the following months, however, that it was unlikely Kooris would be able to keep that promise.
There were signs the Port Authority was in a difficult financial position as early as last fall, as construction crews continued to encounter problems at the site, including issues that prevented workers from driving steel pilings into the ground.
Ulysses Hammond, interim director of the Port Authority, announced last December that Connecticut officials were, once again, renegotiating the agreements that dictated the overall price of the project and the cost sharing arrangement between the state and its private partners.
Lamont, who is in his second term, issued a statement earlier this year that called on the state’s private partners to help cover the ongoing cost overruns at the project.
The deal announced Tuesday meets that demand by the governor, but an amended contract with Eversource and Orsted also gives the companies the ability to recoup the money they are contributing through subleasing the new port facility to other companies.
Eversource is in the process of selling off its offshore wind assets and getting out of the business of developing offshore wind farms altogether.
The company revealed last week that it intends to sell its interest in several undeveloped areas in the Atlantic and its stake in the New London State Pier to Orsted. Eversource executives also said the company is attempting to sell off several other offshore wind projects that are already under development or in the early planning stages.
