Danish energy company to acquire Deepwater Wind
Ørsted, a Denmark-based energy company, announced Monday that it would spend $510 million to acquire Deepwater Wind, the Providence company selected to bring offshore wind to Connecticut and invest $15 million to make New London's State Pier an offshore wind hub.
Deepwater Wind's Chief Executive Officer, Jeff Grybowski, issued a prepared statement indicating that Ørsted would carry out the Connecticut project.
"The new company is committed to building Connecticut's 200-megawatt Revolution Wind Farm, just as Deepwater Wind has planned, making Connecticut an important player in America's offshore wind industry," said the statement. "We also will stand behind all of the commitments that we have made to the local community. We stand firm in our pledge to make significant economic and workforce development investments in Connecticut including $15 million in the New London State Pier to allow major aspects of the wind farm to be built locally. Revolution Wind is expected to be commissioned in 2023."
Ørsted, based in Denmark, has its North American headquarters in Boston and owns and operates offshore windfarms in Europe and Taiwan.
Ørsted officials said in a news release that with the new acquisition, it would be able to deliver clean energy to seven states on the east coast of the United States that have already committed to build more than 10 gigawatts of offshore wind capacity by 2030. After the closing of the transaction, expected by the end of the year, the name of the new organization will be Ørsted US Offshore Wind.
"With this transaction we're creating the number one offshore wind platform in North America, merging the best of two worlds: Deepwater Wind's longstanding expertise in originating, developing and permitting offshore wind projects in the US, and Ørsted's unparalleled track-record in engineering, constructing, and operating large-scale offshore wind farms.
Deepwater Wind developed the nation's only offshore wind farm off Block Island. It has three offshore wind development projects in Rhode Island/Connecticut, Maryland and New York. Orsted's U.S. portfolio includes partnerships with New England-based Eversource, New Jersey utility PSE&G and Virginia-based Dominion Energy.
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