An offshore wind project targeted by the Trump administration has reached a new power milestone, with the developer saying it has started sending electricity to New England’s grid.
Ørsted said in a statement Friday that Revolution Wind is now generating power and that the project will ramp up in the weeks ahead until it is fully operational. The company’s announcement also ties the start of generation to growing energy demand and to efforts to provide what it describes as price certainty and stability for customers in Rhode Island and Connecticut.
Ørsted said Revolution Wind is being built with Global Infrastructure Partners’ Skyborn Renewables. The project is designed to provide electricity for the two states, and Ørsted said the capacity is enough to power more than 350,000 homes and businesses.
Officials and company executives also pointed to cost impacts. Ørsted said a preliminary analysis by the state of Connecticut estimates the project will lower wholesale energy costs by about $500 million per year by 2028, and the company said the electricity will add what it called “affordable, reliable American-made energy” to the region’s grid.
Amanda Dasch, Ørsted’s chief development officer, said in a statement, “Revolution Wind is adding affordable, reliable American-made energy to New England’s grid, helping to meet growing energy demand and lower consumer costs.” Chris Kearns, the acting commissioner of the Rhode Island Office of Energy Resources, called the start of generation a “significant moment for the state’s clean energy landscape.”
The milestone arrives after litigation over prior government actions. Revolution Wind was one of five major East Coast offshore wind projects the Trump administration halted construction on days before Christmas, according to the report. Developers and states sued, and federal judges allowed the projects to resume, with judges effectively concluding that the government did not show the national-security risk was imminent enough to justify an immediate stop to construction.
The reporting said the Biden administration had sought to expand offshore wind as a climate solution, but Trump has repeatedly criticized wind power. A White House spokesperson, Taylor Rogers, said in a statement to AP that the administration reversed course from President Joe Biden’s “costly green energy agenda” and is “aggressively unleashing reliable and affordable energy sources to lower energy bills, improve our grid stability and protect our national security,” adding that the administration “looks forward to ultimate victory on this issue.”
Revolution Wind’s work began in 2024 about 15 miles (24 kilometers) south of the Rhode Island coast, Ørsted said. The wind farm has 65 of the 11-megawatt Siemens Gamesa turbines, and the company said more than 1,000 people have been working on the project.
The December order was described as the second halt of construction on Revolution Wind. Work was previously paused Aug. 22 over national security concerns, and a federal judge later ruled the project could resume, according to the report. Connecticut Rep. Joe Courtney said Friday that because the wind power is transmitted off the New England coast, “its price will not be at the mercy of uncertain global energy markets,” and he credited building trades workers for continuing work after what he characterized as illegal halt work orders. Courtney also said the Iran war is disrupting world energy supplies, the global economy and international travel.