400 megawatts with the state's name on it

What Rhode Island actually signed up for

Rhode Island's utility, now Rhode Island Energy and formerly National Grid, agreed to buy the output of about 400 megawatts of Revolution Wind under a state-backed procurement that regulators at the Rhode Island Public Utilities Commission reviewed and approved. Connecticut takes most of the rest, roughly 304 megawatts at last public report, which is why the project is often described as a shared New England effort led by the developer Orsted. The deal runs for 20 years.

A power purchase agreement (a long contract to buy electricity at a set price) is the heart of the arrangement. The developer gets predictable revenue, which banks require before they finance a multibillion-dollar build; the utility, and therefore ratepayers, agrees to pay the contract price and then pocket or absorb the difference against whatever wholesale power costs in a given year. That last point is where the bill math lives, and we will get to it.

Where the power comes ashore

Revolution Wind's export cable runs north from the lease area and makes landfall at Quonset Point in North Kingstown, per the developer's project filings, where it ties into an onshore cable and a substation before joining the regional grid run by ISO New England (the nonprofit that operates the six-state power system and keeps supply and demand in balance). Quonset was a logical choice: it is already a working industrial port on Narragansett Bay, with the Quonset Business Park and deepwater berths close by.

Landfall is not painless. Bringing a cable ashore means trenching through a landing site and running conduit to a substation, work that neighbors notice. For most of the Rhode Island coast, though, the visible footprint is small, because the turbines themselves sit far enough out that the shoreline view from South County or the East Bay changes very little.

The bill math, honestly

On your statement, a long offshore contract shows up as a cost or a credit, depending on the year. When wholesale electricity is expensive, often when natural gas is pricey in a cold New England winter, a fixed-price wind contract can come out cheaper than the market and credit ratepayers. When gas is cheap, the contract can cost more than the market, and that gap lands on the bill.

Over 20 years, the point of a deal like this is less a guaranteed discount than a hedge against gas price swings, and Rhode Island leans heavily on gas-fired power through the ISO New England market. Honest estimates of the net cost or benefit vary, and they all rest on a number nobody can forecast: the price of natural gas a decade from now. Treat any single dollar figure you see, in either direction, with caution.

Worth watching this month

1. Whether Orsted reports Revolution Wind reaching full commercial operation, a milestone the developer had targeted for around 2026 at last public update.

2. Any new ruling in the federal litigation over the 2025 stop-work order, which could still affect the construction and in-service timeline.

3. Filings at the Rhode Island Public Utilities Commission showing how the contract's cost or credit is passed through to ratepayers.

4. ISO New England interconnection and system notices that would mark the project energizing onto the regional grid.

5. Any Rhode Island Energy bill notice explaining a new or changed offshore wind line item, which is routine paperwork but worth reading.