<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=4MQWKG_1GpKB2qB00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=4MQWKG_1GpKB2qB00" width="1536" height="1024" ></figure><p>Rhode Island Energy buys 400 megawatts from the farm at a fixed wholesale price for 20 years, and a state-commissioned study projects modest savings for customers over that term.</p><p>Ørsted, the Danish developer of the Revolution Wind offshore wind farm, said Thursday that the 704-megawatt project reached commercial operations in October. The company disclosed the milestone in its third-quarter interim report, released Nov. 5.</p><p>For Rhode Island, the stake is a long-term contract. Rhode Island Energy holds a 20-year agreement to buy 400 megawatts of the farm's output, and Connecticut utilities hold the remaining 304 megawatts, according to an assessment prepared for the Rhode Island Office of Energy Resources by the consulting firm Power Advisory.</p><h2>What the developer says</h2><p>In its report, Ørsted said it finished installing the remaining turbines and that in October the project achieved commercial operations under its contracts with utilities in Connecticut and Rhode Island. The company said the farm is generating up to its full capacity. It did not publish output figures.</p><p>Gov. Dan McKee, in a statement issued Nov. 5, described the project as reaching "100% operational status" and called its completion a major win for the state's workforce and energy future.</p><p>The farm sits about 15 nautical miles southeast of Point Judith and has 65 turbines, according to the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. It began delivering power to the grid in March, before the final turbine went up in September.</p><p>Estimates of how many homes it can serve vary by source. BOEM's project page says the farm is capable of powering nearly 250,000 homes. The developer says it will provide enough electricity for the equivalent of more than 350,000 New England homes.</p><p>Revolution Wind is not Rhode Island's first offshore wind farm. The 30-megawatt Block Island Wind Farm was the first and only commercially operating U.S. offshore wind facility at the time of Revolution Wind's 2018 bid, according to the Power Advisory report.</p><h2>The contract price and what it means for bills</h2><p>The Rhode Island contract sets a flat price of $98.425 per megawatt-hour, or about 9.8 cents per kilowatt-hour, that does not rise over the 20-year term, the Power Advisory report states. That is a wholesale price the utility pays for the power, not the rate on a household bill.</p><p>The same report projects Rhode Island customers would save $374 million over the life of the contract on energy and renewable energy certificates, plus $139 million from lower wholesale energy prices. It projects a residential bill reduction of $4 to $10 in the first full year. These are consultant estimates prepared for the state, not savings already realized.</p><p>The report also says the contract provides about one-fifth of what Rhode Island needs to meet its 100% renewable energy standard in the mid-2030s.</p><p>Separately, Rhode Island Energy asked state utility regulators in a July 22 filing to approve a winter Last Resort Service rate, the default supply rate most households pay, of 17.029 cents per kilowatt-hour starting Oct. 1. That compares with a summer rate of 11.092 cents. The filing estimated the change would add $30.93 a month, or 21.4%, for a typical customer using 500 kilowatt-hours.</p><h2>Two federal halts and a pending request</h2><p>The project reached this point after two federal stop-work orders. BOEM ordered the project to halt on Aug. 22, 2025. Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha and Connecticut Attorney General William Tong sued, and a federal court blocked that order on Sept. 22, 2025, according to a Connecticut environmental agency declaration filed in the case.</p><p>BOEM issued a second 90-day suspension on Dec. 22, 2025, citing national security. In January, U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth ruled that the developer was entitled to a preliminary injunction against that order as well.</p><p>On Oct. 9, attorneys for the U.S. Department of the Interior asked the court to send back its 2023 approval of the project's construction and operations plan so the agency could re-evaluate it. Revolution Wind's attorneys called the request an "about-face" and an "untimely change in position" in an Oct. 26 filing. As of Nov. 5, the request was still pending before Lamberth.</p><p>Not everyone welcomed the news. Michael Lombardi, president of Green Oceans, a group that has sued over the project's approvals, said in an email that the project harms fishermen and the environment.</p><p>Lamberth has not set a public date for a decision on Interior's request. Rhode Island Energy's filing says its next default-rate filing, for rates beginning April 1, 2027, is due in January. Residents can follow the winter rate case on the Public Utilities Commission's docket page, and the utility's filing points customers who want to shop for supply to EmpowerRI at https://www.ri.gov/app/dpuc/empowerri.</p></div></body>

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Rhode Island Energy buys 400 megawatts from the farm at a fixed wholesale price for 20 years, and a state-commissioned study projects modest savings for customers over that term. Ørsted, the Danish developer of the Revolution Wind offshore wind farm, said Thursday that the 704-megawatt project reached commercial operations in...

Revolution Wind Fully Running, Developer Says; RI Holds 400 MW Contract

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Rhode Island Energy buys 400 megawatts from the farm at a fixed wholesale price for 20 years, and a state-commissioned study projects modest savings for cu

Revolution Wind Fully Running, Developer Says; RI Holds 400 MW Contract

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