Rhode Island offshore wind RfP gets only one bid

Only one proposal was submitted in Rhode Island’s latest offshore wind solicitation, through which the US state is targeting to award between 600 MW and 1,000 MW of capacity.

The 884-MW Revolution Wind 2 project by Denmark’s Ørsted A/S (CPH:ORSTED) and New England utility Eversource Energy (NYSE:ES) is the sole proponent in the competition, Rhode Island Energy said last week. The company expects it will need around three months to assess the bid and determine whether to start contract negotiations.

“Although we had hoped to see more developers put forward additional proposals within this appeal, we also know there are a multitude of factors at play right now,” said Dave Bonenberger, president of Rhode Island Energy.

Ørsted and Eversource lodged their bid as part of a request for proposals (RfP) for offshore wind energy, which the state opened in October last year. The winners, due to be announced in early August, will sign power purchase agreements (PPAs) of between 15 and 20 years.

Revolution Wind 2 is expected to bring over USD 2 billion (EUR 1.87bn) in direct economic investments to Rhode Island. The proposal comes with jobs creation plans and investments in port improvements and shipbuilding, including upgrading existing ports, building new crew transfer vessels and opening an engineering hub.

(USD 1.0 = EUR 0.934)

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