Revolution Wind Fully Operational, Powering 350,000 New England Homes
Revolution Wind, the 704-megawatt offshore wind farm off the coast of Rhode Island, is now fully operational, developer Ørsted has announced. Canary Media reported that it is the third U.S. utility-scale offshore wind farm to reach full commercial operations, after South Fork Wind near New York and Vineyard Wind near Massachusetts.
The Danish energy company confirmed the milestone on Thursday, 5 November, saying the 65-turbine array had begun “generating up to its full capacity” in October under power purchase agreements with utilities in Rhode Island and Connecticut. POWER Magazine reported that the company made the announcement during its third-quarter earnings call. The farm began delivering smaller amounts of power to the New England grid in March, and its final turbine was installed in September.
At full output, Revolution Wind can power the equivalent of more than 350,000 homes across the two states. Rhode Island has contracted for 400 megawatts of its output and Connecticut for 304 megawatts — enough to meet about a fifth of Rhode Island’s electricity demand and around 5 per cent of Connecticut’s. Ørsted said the project would help “strengthen the region’s supply of affordable, reliable energy”.
A project that survived two shutdown orders
Revolution Wind’s completion is striking because the Trump administration tried twice to stop it. Work was first ordered to halt in August 2025, with the Interior Department citing unspecified national security concerns, and a second stop-work order followed in December 2025. The project nevertheless continued while the orders were challenged in court, and construction was completed.
The legal fight is not over. In October, the Interior Department asked a federal court for permission to re-examine the project’s 2023 construction and operations plan approval, raising fresh questions about the administration’s approach to wind farms that are already operating. Ørsted has not said how that review might affect the project, and no court has ordered the farm to stop generating power.
The farm is a joint venture between Ørsted and Skyborn Renewables, which is owned by BlackRock’s Global Infrastructure Partners. It cost about $6 billion to build, with construction beginning in 2023, and its electricity is sold to Rhode Island Energy, Eversource Energy and United Illuminating under 20-year agreements.
What the farm will deliver
The electricity arrives at a moment when New England’s power system is under strain. Demand is rising as data centres multiply across the United States, and the region has long paid some of the highest electricity prices in the country because it imports much of its power. Connecticut’s energy department has estimated the project could save ratepayers across New England about $500 million a year by 2028.
The farm’s 65 Siemens Gamesa turbines stand more than 15 miles south of the Rhode Island coast. Each is rated at 11 megawatts, and together they make Revolution Wind the largest offshore wind farm in New England — far bigger than the region’s two earlier projects, Block Island and South Fork Wind, which generate a combined 162 megawatts.
A milestone for American offshore wind
Revolution Wind’s completion comes as the wider American offshore wind industry faces an uncertain future, with the Trump administration moving to block new projects and review permits already granted.
That tension is the backdrop to the project’s significance. The farm was approved under the Biden administration, built through two stop-work orders, and is now delivering power while its own approval is under fresh legal challenge. Whether other planned projects can follow the same path is far from clear.
The milestone also matters for the climate. Offshore wind is one of the few sources of large-scale clean power available to the densely populated north-east, where land for solar and onshore wind is scarce. With the Paris Agreement’s 1.5C limit now missed on an annual basis, every additional source of carbon-free electricity carries added weight — even as the damaged Chernobyl nuclear shield reminds the world that energy infrastructure can carry risks of its own.
What happens next
Ørsted is pressing on with another offshore project, Sunrise Wind, from the State Pier in New London, Connecticut, where assembly work for Revolution Wind was also carried out. The company confirmed the Revolution Wind milestone alongside its third-quarter results, which showed earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation up 19 per cent.
For now, the turbines off Rhode Island are spinning at full capacity. The open question is whether the administration’s October request to revisit the project’s approval will turn into a wider challenge to operating wind farms — or whether Revolution Wind will stand as proof that such projects can be finished even under political fire.
