Rhode Island to Issue Competitive Solicitation for 600 Megawatts of Offshore Wind

Democratic Governor Gina Raimondo on Oct. 27 announced that Rhode Island will launch a competitive solicitation to procure up to 600 megawatts of offshore wind energy. The effort is in line with an executive order issued in January, setting a goal for the state to source all of its electricity from renewable resources by the end of 2030. Last year, state regulators approved a 20-year agreement allowing National Grid to purchase 400 megawatts of electricity from the Revolution Wind offshore project that is being developed by Denmark-based Orsted A/S and Eversource Energy. Rhode Island is also home to the first U.S. operational wind project, the 30-megawatt Block Island facility.

National Grid will develop the request for proposals under the oversight of the Office of Energy Resources, and is subject to approval by the state’s Public Utilities Commission. A draft RFP will be submitted to the commission this fall, with a final RFP anticipated in early-2021. Contracts resulting from the solicitation will also be subject to separate regulatory approvals.

Rhode Island’s renewable energy goal is part of a broader strategy to address climate change by cutting carbon emissions. In 2017, Raimondo set a goal of increasing the state’s clean energy capacity by 10 times by the end of 2020. The state is more than 90 percent of the way toward achieving the target, facilitated by competitive procurements of carbon-free resources at scale and nation-leading energy efficiency programs. As of the second quarter of this year, Rhode Island has 933 megawatts of renewable energy in its portfolio, a nine-fold increase since 2016.