Rhode Island’s Governor Dan McKee has announced the request for proposals for the offshore wind procurement has been released by the State’s primary utility company, Rhode Island Energy, for up to 1,000MW of new offshore wind capacity.
This offshore wind procurement will have the potential to meet at least 30 percent of Rhode Island’s estimated 2030 electricity demand. In July, Governor McKee signed into law clean energy legislation, that seeks to expand Rhode Island’s offshore wind energy resources. The new law requires a market-competitive procurement for between 600 and 1,000 megawatts of newly developed offshore wind capacity. When added to the 30MW Block Island Offshore Wind Farm and the planned 400MW Revolution Offshore Wind project, about half of the state’s project energy needs will be powered by offshore wind. Offshore wind project proposals by bidders will be due to Rhode Island Energy on February 1, 2023.
