A large offshore wind project off the coast of Connecticut and Rhode Island that was repeatedly stopped by the Trump administration is slated to come online Friday, sending clean energy to New England’s power grid.
The project, known as Revolution Wind, will ultimately generate up to 704 megawatts of electricity — the equivalent of powering 350,000 homes.
“It will mean a big boost to our energy grid in terms of new energy coming on that’s both reliable and homegrown,” said Chris Phelps, state director of Environment Connecticut.
The wind farm is expected to lower electricity costs throughout New England, a region with some of the highest electricity prices in the country. It’s also expected to reduce reliance on fossil fuels and lessen the risk of blackouts during winter and other periods of high demand.
Environmental and economic benefits
Revolution Wind is the second large-scale offshore wind project to come online in New England.
Vineyard Wind 1, an offshore wind project off the coast of Massachusetts, is nearing the end of construction and has been sending electricity to the New England power grid since 2024.
Together, these two projects could lower the risk of power outages in New England by 55%, according to an analysis of winter wind speeds by the Union of Concerned Scientists.
“Offshore wind adds a lot of power at times when the power grid is most stressed,” said Susan Muller, senior energy analyst at Union of Concerned Scientists. “It’s going to help protect everyone in New England from blackouts, especially in the winter.”
The new power source will also help reduce New England’s reliance on fossil fuels.
“Over the course of the last 25 years, it’s no secret that New England’s electric grid has become increasingly dependent on fuels such as natural gas,” Phelps said.
This past January, as cold temperatures dipped during winter storm Fern, the Department of Energy issued an emergency order, allowing power plants that burn oil and natural gas to exceed federal air quality limitations to keep electricity flowing to customers.
“When we see dramatic spikes in energy demand in New England, as we did during the coldest periods of the winter just a few weeks ago, some of those older, dirtier fossil fuel and power plants start to spin up in New England and our air quality is harmed as a result,” Phelps said. “With offshore wind available, that becomes less necessary.”
Offshore wind is also less volatile than natural gas when it comes to prices, Phelps said.
“Gas prices in particular have experienced moments of extreme volatility and price swings up and down. Wind is an example of an energy resource that doesn’t have that problem attached to it,” he said.
On-again, off-again: Trump’s ongoing offshore wind battle
Construction on Revolution Wind was abruptly halted by the Trump administration twice last year.
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) issued its first work-stop order on Aug. 22, stating the federal government needed to review the project and address national security concerns. Revolution Wind was approximately 80% complete at the time with 45 of its 65 turbines installed. Developers said the project had already been reviewed and permitted by the defense department with all necessary state and federal permits secured in 2023.
Two lawsuits were filed in response — one by Orsted, the Danish company developing Revolution Wind, and another by Connecticut and Rhode Island. One month later, in September, a judge ruled work could continue on Revolution Wind, stating the government failed to “make any factual findings or cite any reasons” why the project should be stopped.
Four months after that, on Dec. 22, the federal government issued another work-stop order — this time stopping construction on five offshore wind farms on the East Coast, including Revolution Wind. The other wind farms included Vineyard Wind 1 off Massachusetts, Sunrise Wind and Empire Wind off New York, and Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind off Virginia.
BOEM suspended leases on all five wind farms, stating national security risks for radar equipment used by marine vessels.
According to the Department of the Interior, “unclassified reports from the U.S. government have long found that the movement of massive turbine blades and the highly reflective towers create radar interference called ‘clutter’” and false targets.
Energy experts were quick to criticize the statement.
“The current evidence suggests that these risks are quite modest and can easily be addressed,” said Kenneth Gillingham, professor of energy and environmental economics at Yale School of the Environment.
“You can change the radar settings so that false positives are less likely to happen. This is something that’s done all the time in places where there happens to be a lot of steel,” he said, noting militaries that work around offshore wind turbines in Europe’s North Sea.
“This is the use of the executive branch in an arbitrary way that has never been used before,” Gillingham said.
The judge said the administration failed to explain why construction could not continue and that members of the administration were vocal in criticizing offshore wind farms for reasons unrelated to national security.
This is a developing story .
Áine Pennello is a Report for America corps member, covering the environment and climate change for Connecticut Public, which is where this article was originally published.
