The first 11 MW Siemens Gamesa offshore wind turbine, out of total 65 planned, has been installed at Ørsted’s 704 MW Revolution Wind offshore wind farm in the United States.
Once in operation, Revolution Wind will have the capacity to generate 400 MW of clean power for Rhode Island and 304 MW for Connecticut, enough to power more than 350,000 homes and bring both states closer to reaching their climate targets.
Meanwhile, offshore construction crews continue to make steady progress installing the foundations for the turbines, with more than three-quarters of the foundations now in place offshore.
Revolution Wind will utilize 65 Siemens Gamesa SG 11.0-200 DD wind turbines, the same turbine model used at the recently completed South Fork Wind.
Three New England ports are playing central roles in the effort to build Revolution Wind, including State Pier in New London, Connecticut, which serves as the staging and marshaling port for the project, where the turbines are being assembled by local union labor.
Ørsted and Eversource have invested more than $100 million in the State Pier redevelopment project.
In Providence, crews are handling loadout of the advanced foundation components, which were built by more than 125 local union workers at Ørsted and Eversource’s construction hub at ProvPort. Ørsted and Eversource invested $100 million in the work at their ProvPort hub, making it the largest offshore wind supply chain investment in Rhode Island’s history.
The ECO EDISON, the first-ever American-built, owned, and crewed offshore wind service operations vessel, is based out of ProvPort during Revolution Wind’s construction.
Revolution Wind’s crew helicopters and Rhode Island-built crew transfer vessels are based out of that state’s Quonset Point.
Onshore construction continues in North Kingstown in Rhode Island on the project’s transmission system.
“Seeing the first turbine rise above the water at Revolution Wind is another unforgettable moment for this new American energy industry we’re building together.
“Revolution Wind is bringing local union jobs and economic development to Rhode Island and Connecticut, and it will deliver clean offshore wind power to hundreds of thousands of homes in the region.
“We thank our state and federal partners, our hard-working construction, marine and safety teams, and our local labor, port, and supply chain partners, as we continue building this historic project,” said David Hardy, Group EVP and CEO Americas at Ørsted.
The Revolution Wind project site, roughly 15 miles south of the Rhode Island coast and 32 miles southeast of the Connecticut coast, is adjacent to Ørsted and Eversource’s South Fork Wind, America’s first utility-scale offshore wind farm.
Ørsted recently marked the groundbreaking for another neighboring project, Sunrise Wind.