Offshore wind farms have been in the headlines in Connecticut over the last few years, as efforts continue to retrofit the State Pier in New London into a heavy-lift pier.
When the pier is completed, it will be leased for 10 years by Dutch energy company Ørsted as part of a large offshore wind farm project. Pier construction has been inching toward completion and in the last few months has begun receiving shipments. Those shipments include parts of wind turbines which will be assembled on-site and then shipped to their eventual home off the eastern seaboard.
Under the current plan, the State Pier will assemble and ship turbines for three offshore wind projects. The first, which is expected to be assembled later this year, will supply wind energy to parts of New York.
It’s the second, though, that is expected to benefit Connecticut, albeit in a limited capacity. Revolution Wind is a planned wind farm off the southeast of Connecticut and the southern shore of Rhode Island. Power generated by the farm will be split between Rhode Island and Connecticut, providing an estimated 3% of Connecticut’s annual power supply.
According to Ørsted spokespeople, Revolution Wind is expected to begin assembly sometime next year and will start generating power in 2025.
According to Ørsted’s literature, turbines can generate a few megawatts of power each. Each turbine is equipped with three blades that are designed to rotate when they catch the wind. As the blades rotate, they spin a magnet through a coil inside the nacelle (what the rotating section is attached to), which generates usable power. That power is then transferred to cables which run under the ocean floor and carry the power to a sub-station on land.
A spokesperson for Ørsted tells CII that Revolution Wind will carry its power to a sub-station in Rhode Island.
There has been some confusion over whether these northeast wind farms will use an alternative method to transfer that power to shore, with some who reached out to CII with the understanding that the power will be placed into fuel cells which would then be shipped to shore on a boat.
According to the Ørsted spokesperson, this is likely a misunderstanding regarding another project the company is embarking on with Maersk, the largest ocean shipping company in the world. Under this program, Ørsted is creating a clean hydrogen fuel that can be used to power shipping vessels while generating fewer greenhouse gases.
Additionally, Ørsted does plan to use a new type of vessel to provide maintenance teams to the northeast wind farms. This boat would act as a live/work station for technicians, taking them to turbines that need service or maintenance.
Wind power has had a bumpy ride in Connecticut so far. In addition to the criticisms of the ongoing State Pier project, which has seen a ballooning public budget and a series of delays, two major stakeholders have reversed course. Eversource Energy, which had teamed up with Ørsted on the State Pier, sold its interest in offshore wind back in May. And last week Avangrid announced it would be shutting down operations on a proposed project in Bridgeport wind farm, citing rising supply chain costs. State leaders claim this announcement was part of an effort to renegotiate.
Regardless, Connecticut leadership is going all in on the future of wind energy, announcing an offshore wind roadmap on Wednesday, which touts the wind power industry as part of the state’s economic future.
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It’s very kind of Connecticut taxpayers to finance the construction of the onshore facilities needed to supply off-shore wind-generated energy to the Hamptons. You’re welcome!