Offshore wind holds a lot of potential for Rhode Island’s economy and its efforts to combat climate change by reducing reliance on fossil fuels, supporters say.
It also faces a number of economic and political challenges. A top executive at a major offshore wind developer broke it all down for Globe Rhode Island’s Brian Amaral and Lisa Gralnek, host of Future of XYZ on Rhode Island PBS, on this week’s episode of Rhode Island Report.
“For me, the future is a lot of offshore wind, a domestic supply chain, a trained workforce, and just a real significant difference in the way we generate power along the East Coast of the US in the next 10, 15 years or so,” said David Hardy, group executive vice president and CEO of Ørsted North America.
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Ørsted now owns the Block Island wind farm, a small-scale demonstration project. It’s also behind some of the major projects going on off Rhode Island’s coast. The Danish company’s US operations are co-headquartered in Providence and Boston.
In good news for the industry, work is underway on Ørsted’s South Fork project in the waters off Rhode Island. Ørsted’s proposal to build Revolution Wind, the first major offshore wind project that would bring its power directly to Rhode Island, continues to move through the approval process.
In bad news for the industry, Rhode Island Energy announced just a day before this podcast was recorded that it wasn’t moving forward with Ørsted’s bid for what it called Revolution Wind 2 because of the costs to customers.
Hardy said he was “quite disappointed” in the decision, and discussed the company’s position on pricing.
To get the latest episode each week, follow Rhode Island Report podcast on Apple Podcasts and other podcasting platforms, or listen in the player above.
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Brian Amaral can be reached at brian.amaral@globe.com. Follow him @bamaral44.