Ørsted and Eversource Tap ProvPort as Regional Offshore Wind Hub

Ørsted and Eversource Tap ProvPort as Regional Offshore Wind Hub

Rhode Island’s leadership in the offshore wind industry took another major step forward as joint-venture partners Ørsted and Eversource announced they are taking the first steps toward transforming ProvPort into a regional offshore wind hub.

The two companies announced that they will be developing a new advanced foundation component facility to support the assembly of the developers’ portfolio of Northeast offshore wind farms.

The new 228-foot long facility will be used for advanced fabrication and assembly of foundation platforms for Ørsted and Eversource’s offshore wind projects serving Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New York. This facility will further develop Rhode Island’s offshore wind industry and contribute to the state’s growing blue economy.

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“Rhode Island is proud to be home to not only the country’s first offshore wind farm, but also one of the most thriving offshore wind industries in the nation,” said Rhode Island Governor Daniel J. McKee. “Ørsted and Eversource are keeping their commitment to making significant investments in Rhode Island to create new, good-paying union jobs and position our port facilities to become central hubs in this growing industry. Rhode Islanders are ready to get to work building the next great U.S. offshore wind farms.”

Together, Ørsted and Eversource will deliver clean, reliable energy to the Northeast through offshore wind, providing enough electricity for nearly 1 million homes. In December 2016, Ørsted and Eversource teamed up to launch a new clean energy industry right here in the U.S. Northeast. That partnership has now grown to include at least 1,700 MW of offshore wind under development, including the 704-megawatt Revolution Wind project serving Rhode Island and Connecticut; the 132-megawatt South Fork Wind serving Long Island, and the 924-megawatt Sunrise Wind project serving New York.

“We’re reaffirming our commitment to Rhode Island with the advancement of a regional fabrication and assembly hub at ProvPort,” said David Hardy, Chief Executive Officer of Ørsted Offshore North America. “Our partnership with local labor is critical to the success of our offshore wind farms and we’re ready to put more local tradesmen and women to work in the state where we launched America’s offshore wind industry.”

Ørsted’s RI roots are deep in this emerging industry. The company acquired Deepwater Wind in October of 2018. Deepwater constructed America’s first offshore wind project.

 

Union Agreement

The two companies also announced they have reached a Project Labor Agreement (PLA) with the Rhode Island Building and Construction Trades Council and Dimeo Construction, ensuring that the site upgrades and facility construction required to turn ProvPort into a regional offshore wind hub will be completed by local, union labor.

The PLA, covering the ProvPort facility construction and site work, represents the continued close cooperation between Ørsted and Eversource and the Rhode Island Building Trades. It also builds on the earlier collaboration between the Building Trades and Ørsted on the Block Island Wind Farm, America’s first offshore wind farm, which has been in operations since 2016.

ProvPort s working port has historically been a longshoreman’s facility.

“Offshore wind will play a key role in helping Rhode Island recover from the grips of the Covid-19 pandemic, delivering good-paying, local jobs and providing significant economic investment to position the state’s infrastructure for the industries of the future,” said Joe Nolan, Executive Vice President for Strategy, Customer, and Corporate Relations, and incoming Chief Executive Officer and President as of May 5 at Eversource Energy. “We are proud to partner with the Rhode Island Building Trades on this critical project that will help transform ProvPort into a regional hub for offshore wind, while ensuring that union labor plays a central role in the state’s quest to reduce emissions and deliver on the promise of clean energy.”

In total, Ørsted and Eversource are investing a combined $40 million at ProvPort and Quonset Point, in North Kingstown, R.I., to support the development of the Revolution Wind project serving Rhode and Connecticut, as well as the South Fork Wind project serving New York.

The site upgrades and facility construction at ProvPort will create approximately 40 union jobs. 

Dimeo Construction, the project’s general contractor and a leading construction company in New England, has also engaged a number of local Rhode Island construction firms to support the facility construction, all of whom will work under this PLA.

“We’re grateful to be the lead contractor on this important work to upgrade ProvPort and construct a new facility that will be crucial to the development of the region’s offshore wind farms,” said Dimeo Construction CEO Bradford S. Dimeo. “We thank Ørsted and Eversource for giving us this opportunity to put more local union workers to work alongside us as we contribute to this exciting new industry.”

The companies claim the new partnership between labor and industry will create pathways to apprenticeships and career opportunities for lower-income, minority, women and economically-disadvantaged Rhode Islanders through the Building Futures Rhode Island program. Apprentices from Building Futures were part of the labor workforce that built Ørsted’s Block Island Wind Farm, Rhode Island’s – and America’s – first offshore wind farm.