Offshore wind project targeted by Trump administration starts sending power to the New England grid

An offshore wind project targeted by the Trump administration has begun powering New England’s power grid, the developer announced Friday.

Danish company Orsted said Revolution Wind was now generating electricity and would increase its capacity in the coming weeks until it was fully operational. Orsted is building Revolution Wind with Global Infrastructure Partners’ Skyborn Renewables to provide electricity to Rhode Island and Connecticut, enough to power more than 350,000 homes and businesses.

Revolution Wind was one of five major East Coast offshore wind projects whose construction was halted by the Trump administration days before Christmas, citing national security concerns. The developers and states sued, and federal judges allowed all five to resume construction, essentially concluding that the government had failed to demonstrate that the national security risk was so imminent that construction should be halted.

The Biden administration has sought to develop offshore wind energy as a solution to climate change.

But President Donald Trump, who often talks about his hatred of wind power, has said his goal is not to allow “windmills” to be built. He signed a series of executive orders aimed at boosting oil, gas and coal.

White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers said Friday evening that Trump “reversed course on Joe Biden’s costly green energy agenda, which gave preferential treatment to intermittent and unreliable energy sources, and is instead aggressively releasing reliable, affordable energy sources to lower energy bills, improve the stability of our grid, and protect our national security.” Rogers added in a statement to AP that the administration “looks forward to ultimate victory on this issue.”

Orsted said that in an era of growing energy demand, Revolution Wind would provide price certainty and stability, citing a preliminary analysis from the state of Connecticut that estimates it will reduce wholesale energy costs by about $500 million annually by 2028.

“Revolution Wind adds affordable, reliable American-made energy to the New England grid, helping to meet growing energy demand and lower costs for consumers,” said Amanda Dasch, chief development officer at Orsted, in a statement.

Chris Kearns, acting commissioner of the Rhode Island Office of Energy Resources, called the first electricity milestone “an important moment for the state’s clean energy landscape.”

Orsted began construction in 2024 about 15 miles south of the Rhode Island coast. The wind farm has 65 of the 11-megawatt Siemens Gamesa turbines and more than 1,000 people have worked there.

Connecticut Democratic Rep. Joe Courtney said that because this wind power is transported directly off the coast of New England, “its price will not be at the mercy of uncertain global energy markets.” The war in Iran is disrupting global energy supplies, the global economy and international travel.

Courtney also said Friday’s milestone “would never have happened without Connecticut’s talented building trades workers, who persevered despite the Trump administration’s illegal stop-work orders.”

The December order was the second time the administration halted construction of Revolution Wind. The work had already been interrupted on August 22 for reasons of national security. A month later, a federal judge ruled that the project could resume.

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