Ørsted and Eversource are planning to make more than USD 100 million in direct financial commitments in Connecticut if their Constitution Wind project is selected in the state’s Request for Proposals (RFP) for offshore wind generation.
According to the developers, Constitution Wind’s economic development commitments will strategically invest in local port infrastructure for direct use by the offshore wind industry, as well as catalyze regional economic activity.
Ørsted and Eversource stated that the project will help renew the economically distressed City of New London, develop an offshore wind workforce from local skilled labor, and advance climate mitigation and resiliency.
“We are delivering unmatched investments into Connecticut that will support Connecticut workers and drive economic activity and future growth while also helping the state meet its recently strengthened climate change mandates,” said President of Ørsted North America and CEO of Ørsted U.S. Offshore Wind Thomas Brostrøm .
The parties have also committed to investing USD 57.5 million for upgrades to New London State Pier, an underutilized state asset, to accommodate the industry and create an offshore wind staging hub in Connecticut.
In addition to the direct economic development commitments, the local Constitution Wind project work, which includes the pre-assembly and load out of turbines and secondary steel fabrication, is an additional USD 143 million investment in the state, the companies said.
As reported, Ørsted and Eversource submitted a bid in October to develop their Constitution Wind project some 65 miles off the coast of New London.
Through the RFP, Connecticut is seeking to develop up to 2GW of offshore wind. The RFP builds off of multi-resource solicitations in 2018 in which Connecticut bought 304MW of offshore wind from the Revolution Wind project, also being developed by Eversource and Ørsted.