UPDATE: Full Stop for Revolution Wind Off Rhode Island, Massachusetts Coasts – Now what?

On August 22, 2023, the Department of the Interior announced the approval of the construction and operation of the Revolution Wind project offshore Rhode Island. Located approximately 15 nautical miles offshore southeast of Point Judith, Rhode Island.

On August 22, 2025, BOEM’s Acting Director ordered Revolution Wind, LLC to halt ongoing activities related to the Revolution Wind project.

Here is the letter sent to Orsted:

Following the letter, Orsted released a statement, here:

Ørsted is evaluating all options to resolve the matter expeditiously. This includes engagement with relevant permitting agencies for any necessary clarification or resolution as well as through potential legal proceedings, with the aim being to proceed with continued project construction towards COD in the second half of 2026.

Revolution Wind is fully permitted, having secured all required federal and state permits including its Construction and Operations Plan approval letter on 17 November 2023 following reviews that began more than nine years ago. Revolution Wind has 20-year power purchase agreements to deliver 400 MW of electricity to Rhode Island and 304 MW to Connecticut, enough to power over 350,000 homes across both states to meet their growing energy demand. As a reference, South Fork Wind, which is adjacent to Revolution Wind and uses the same turbine technology, delivered reliable energy to New York at a capacity factor of 53% for the first half of 2025, on par with the state’s baseload power sources.

Ørsted is investing into American energy generation, grid upgrades, port infrastructure, and a supply chain, including US shipbuilding and manufacturing extending to more than 40 states. Revolution Wind is already employing hundreds of local union workers supporting both on and offshore construction activities. Ørsted’s US offshore wind projects have totalled approximately 4 million labour union hours to date, 2 million of which are with Revolution Wind.

Ørsted is evaluating the potential financial implications of this development, considering a range of scenarios, including legal proceedings. Ørsted will, in due course, advise the market on the potential impact of the order on the plan announced on 11 August 2025 (company announcement 12/2025) to conduct a rights issue. Existing shareholders and prospective investors are advised to await further announcements by the company.

___

Impact to RI and CT

Revolution Wind is contracted under 20-year PPAs with Connecticut Light & Power (Eversource), United Illuminating (Avangrid) and Rhode Island Energy (PPL) and is said to “play a pivotal role in helping Rhode Island and Connecticut meet their clean energy goals”, the first such multi-state wind project in America. The stated goal for RI is to be 100% renewable energy by 2033, said to be the most ambitious goal in all of the US. If opened in 2026, that goal would be accomplished in its 7th year out. Wind turbines have an approximate 20 year lifespan.

Revolution Wind is a project in partnership with Orsted and Global Infrastructure Partners’ Skyborn Renewables. At the least, long-term port infrastructure improvements are building a construction hub at ProvPort, an operations hub at Quonset, and will redevelop the State Pier into a regional center for the offshore wind industry. There is also a world-class GWO safety training center at the Community College of Rhode Island.

Approximately 1,200 union jobs are involved between Rhode Island and Connecticut.

Three New England ports are playing central roles in the effort to build Revolution Wind:

• State Pier in New London, Connecticut, is serving 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, R.I., on the project’s transmission system.

Ørsted’s portfolio of American energy assets includes America’s first offshore wind farm off the coast of Block Island, the country’s first utility-scale offshore wind farm, South Fork Wind, and one of the country’s largest battery storage facilities located in Arizona.

Orsted’s newest offshore wind construction will be New York’s largest offshore wind project, Sunrise Wind, a 924-megawatt project to provide enough clean energy to power approximately 600,000 New York homes.The project will be located approximately 30 miles east of Montauk, New York.

The Revolution Wind project is considered 70-80% complete.  With a goal of powering hundreds of thousands, the project has met with efforts to close it down due to environmental and aesthetic concerns. In August, President Trump announced a halt on federal approval of all new wind and solar projects.

Wind farm companies working off the coast of New Jersey have said they are in a financial position to wait out the 4 years of the Republican administration, and continue from where projects are left.

___

After publication today, Mayor Dan McKee sent his statement and that of Gov. Lemont, of Connecticut:

Governor McKee said, “The Trump administration’s stop-work order on Revolution Wind undermines efforts to expand our energy supply, lower costs for families and businesses, and strengthen regional reliability. This action puts hundreds of union jobs at risk by halting a project that is 80% complete—just steps away from powering more than 350,000 homes in Rhode Island and Connecticut. At a time when we should be moving forward with solutions for energy, jobs, and affordability, the Trump administration is choosing delay and disruption. We are working with our partners in Connecticut to pursue every avenue to reverse this decision. Revolution Wind is key to Rhode Island’s economic development, energy security, and long-term affordability for our residents.â€

Governor Lamont said, “This political move by the Trump administration will drive up the cost of electricity bills and contradicts everything the administration has told us. It wastes years of state investment in renewable energy designed to diversify our energy supply and lower costs for families and businesses. The project, which was on track to be completed early next year, would have powered more than 350,000 homes across Connecticut and Rhode Island while creating good-paying, clean energy jobs. All of that is now at risk. We are working closely with Rhode Island to save this project because it represents exactly the kind of investment that reduces energy costs, strengthens regional production, and builds a more secure energy future – the very goals President Trump claims to support but undermines with this decision.â€

___

RI Delegation Statement on Stop Work Order for Revolution Wind Project

U.S. Senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse, along with U.S. Representatives Seth Magaziner (RI-02) and Gabe Amo (RI-01) issued the following statement in response to a Trump Administration order stopping all activities of Revolution Wind Project off the coast of Rhode Island, which is more than 80% complete and contracted to deliver much needed affordable electricity to Rhode Island next year:

“We’re committed to ensuring Rhode Islanders have affordable electricity, but President Trump continues to recklessly increase energy prices.  Halting this nearly completed project is unwarranted and unacceptable.  We will do everything we can to protect Rhode Island’s interests and help lower people’s energy bills,†said Reed, Whitehouse, Magaziner and Amo in a joint statement.

Wind power is one of the fastest, cheapest ways to meet rising electricity demand, but as payback to Trump’s fossil fuel backers, the Trump Administration is seeking to weaponize federal bureaucracy to try and kill clean energy projects that will save Americans money and reduce the carbon pollution that is driving the climate crisis.

___

Attorney General Neronha affirms need for Revolution Wind project

Attorney General Peter F. Neronha issued the following statement in response to yesterday’s stop work order on the Revolution Wind project.

“The Revolution Wind project is absolutely essential to meeting Rhode Island’s clean energy goals,†said Attorney General Neronha. “Nearly half of the State’s clean energy portfolio, 400MW to be precise, is slated to come from Revolution Wind upon the project’s completion next year. Without Revolution Wind, our Act on Climate is dead in the water. With the significant investments made in this project already and its obvious benefit to our economy and climate, the Trump Administration’s attempt to halt it can only be characterized as bizarre. Along with our neighboring states, we are evaluating our avenues to reverse it.â€

___

Informal Poll of RINewsToday:

___

From Nantucket’s Mary Chalke:

Town of Nantucket announces high level of PFAS in Madaket Harbor, over one year after the Vineyard Wind blade fiberglass and styrofoam pollution. After 66 defective blades were installed.Questions from the public remain unanswered. #mapoli #nantucket pic.twitter.com/69DGeziTLy

— Mary Chalke (@ChalkeMary40147) August 23, 2025

Decommissioned and Removed

Several early or demo offshore wind farms have been fully decommissioned (turbines taken down and removed):

• Vindeby (Denmark) – the world’s first offshore wind farm (11 turbines, 1991) was dismantled in 2017. Foundations (monopiles) were removed, but in some cases only above or near seabed portions were taken out; the rest (e.g., erosion protection) stayed underwater.

• Yttre Stengrund (Sweden) – 5 turbines (2001) were completely removed in 2015–2016, the first full offshore-wind decommissioning. Dismantled in 2015, after only ~14 years of operation (short of the 20–25 years expected). Reasons: technical/economic performance issues (repeated gearbox/blade issues) and a decision by the owner (Vattenfall) not to reinvest in extending life, as output was too low to justify repairs. Once the license expired, regulators required removal.

• Utgrunden I (Sweden) – 7 turbines (commissioned 2000–2001) were decommissioned in 2018. 7 turbines removed after 18 years. The site could technically have continued, but economics and maintenance problems made extension infeasible. Authorities did not permit them to remain as non-operational standing structures.

• Blyth (UK) – the UK’s first offshore project (two 2-MW turbines from 2000) was removed in 2019.

• Fukushima FORWARD (Japan, floating demo) – a 7-MW unit was retired in 2020 and the remaining turbines/floating substation were removed in 2021.  The whole floating test site were removed by government order after mechanical failures and cost overruns. This was an explicit government-backed decision to shut down early due to severe mechanical issues (gearbox/generator failures, mooring stress), and another lost profitability. The Japanese government ordered all floating units removed early.

Removal

It does not appear that any wind farms have been removed out of ecological or environmental reasons.

There are 3 cases of blade failure, and in all cases repairs were made and turbines were not taken down. Included was 1 incident in Block Island when a stress fracture in one turbine’s blade was reported in 2021 and repaired.

In every known case so far, offshore wind farms that have been decommissioned have had their turbines and associated structures fully removed. In some instances, only parts of submerged foundations remained.

There are no documented instances of turbines being left standing offshore—that would violate existing decommissioning regulations and is not supported by precedent.

Offshore wind farms are normally operated until their technical or financial end-of-life (20–25 years for most early projects). But in a few cases, projects were taken down earlier than expected, as noted above.

Companies cannot walk away

To prevent a company from walking away, governments require decommissioning security (bonds, letters of credit, or escrow funds) before construction even begins. In many jurisdictions, if a developer collapses, parent companies, financiers, or insurers can be held liable for removal. Governments don’t want taxpayers footing the bill.

Examples and results:

• Oil & Gas Offshore: Exactly this has happened in the oil sector (companies bankrupt mid-field life). Governments invoked bonds and sometimes pursued former partners for costs.

• Offshore Wind: No large wind farm has been abandoned mid-construction and ordered removed yet, but Sweden’s Utgrunden I and Yttre Stengrund (above) show regulators won’t allow idle unsafe turbines to stay. Financial assurance rules are stricter now because of those lessons.

___

RINewsToday has extensively covered offshore wind turbines and, in particular, the “liberated blade” (the new wind farm industry term for a broken blade) that impacted Nantucket over the last year.

https://2×8.ea2.myftpupload.com/ge-vernova-to-pay-nantucket-10-5m-for-vineyard-wind-blade-failure-ack-for-whales-pans-agreement-the-nantucket-current/

https://2×8.ea2.myftpupload.com/lawsuit-filed-to-stop-empire-wind-project-by-4-environmental-groups-and-fishermen/

https://2×8.ea2.myftpupload.com/damaged-vineyard-wind-turbine-now-struck-by-lightning-the-nantucket-current/

https://2×8.ea2.myftpupload.com/executive-order-slams-brakes-on-offshore-wind-the-nantucket-current/

To read more go to our front page and type in “wind” in the search bar.

This is a developing story