Government

Revolution Wind job announcement strikes positive note

“Today, Rhode Island is cementing our place at the center of America’s offshore wind industry,” said Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo. “This renewed partnership with Deepwater Wind will bring hundreds of jobs to our shore and enough clean energy to power hundreds of thousands of homes. The next industrial revolution is in renewable energy. Once again, Rhode Island is leading

Rhode Island News: Revolution Wind job announcement strikes positive note

May 31, 2018, 11:27 am

By Steve Ahlquist

“Today, Rhode Island is cementing our place at the center of America’s offshore wind industry,” said Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo. “This renewed partnership with Deepwater Wind will bring hundreds of jobs to our shore and enough clean energy to power hundreds of thousands of homes. The next industrial revolution is in renewable energy. Once again, Rhode Island is leading the way.”

Deepwater Wind’s Revolution Wind project is a next-generation 400-megawatt offshore wind farm with up to 50 offshore wind turbines.

The new Revolution Wind project is expected to create more than 800 direct construction jobs, 50 good-paying, permanent jobs for Rhode Islanders at every skill level and hundreds more indirect jobs. In addition, Deepwater announced it will invest $250 million locally on the project, including $40 million in investments in Rhode Island ports. This investment will position Rhode Island to be a major construction hub in the growing American offshore wind industry.

Deepwater did not seek and will not receive a penny of state tax incentives or state tax credits to support this project.

“We’re keeping our promise to Rhode Island,” said Deepwater Wind CEO Jeffrey Grybowski. “We’ve always known that the Block Island Wind Farm would be just the start of a much bigger opportunity for Rhode Island, and Revolution Wind is exactly what we envisioned. We’re proud to make major new investments in our home state and to put hundreds more Rhode Islanders to work building Revolution Wind. Thanks to Governor Raimondo’s outstanding leadership, the state that pioneered offshore wind will continue to be an epicenter for this new American industry for years to come.”

The announcement, held in the Port of Providence, brought members of No LNG in PVD! out to hold signs and remind Raimondo that despite her efforts in expanding wind energy resources in Rhode Island she was also supporting the expansion of fracked gas in an area known for its environmental racism and high asthma rates.

No LNG in PVD! campaign coordinator Monica Huertas lauded the Revolution Wind announcement, saying “This is a great opportunity for Providence, for Rhode Island. This is great. It’s going to give us jobs. It’s going to give us clean energy. But if we build the LNG facility here it’s going to lock us in to another thirty years of fossil fuel use which is going to undo everything that we’re doing here.”

Michael Sabitoni, President of the Rhode Island Building and Construction Trades, told the No LNG in PVD! protesters that they should “be happy” and put “yes” on their signs.

Governor Raimondo takes questions from reporters:


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