Revolution Wind project on track for completion this year, developer says
John Moritz, CT Mirror
The offshore Revolution Wind project is nearing completion
after nearly three years of work based out of the State Pier in New London,
officials with Danish wind energy developer Ørsted said Thursday.
In a presentation on the company’s quarterly financial
results, Ørsted Chief Executive Rasmus Errboe said the project is more than 95%
complete, with 61 out of 65 turbines fully installed. The four remaining
turbines are on track to be installed over the coming months, Errboe added,
allowing the project to reach full commercial operation by the end of 2026.
Revolution Wind is the first offshore wind project
contracted to supply electricity to customers in Connecticut. The installation,
which is located off the coast of Rhode Island, began sending some power to the
electric grid in March, when it was about 90% complete.
Once finished, the project will have a peak capacity of 704
megawatts, enough electricity to power roughly 350,000 homes. (While the
project is supported financially through power-purchase agreements with
utilities in Connecticut and Rhode Island, the electricity it generates is
distributed throughout the New England electrical grid.)
Assembly work on Revolution Wind is based at the State Pier
in New London, where gigantic sections of turbine shafts and blades as long as
a football field are loaded onto specially-built installation vessels for
transport to the offshore work area. One of those vessels, the Wind Scylla, was
positioned in the vicinity of Revolution Wind project on Thursday, according to
marine traffic data.
The pier is also the staging area for two other Ørsted
projects, Sunrise Wind and South Fork Wind, both of which are contracted to
supply power to Long Island.
Errboe also announced on Thursday that work on Sunrise Wind
— the largest of the three projects at 924 megawatts — had passed the halfway
point during the most recent quarter, and is on track for completion in 2027.
Workers have installed 77 of the 84 turbine foundations, and
have fully completed 20 turbines along with the all the project’s export cables
and offshore converter station, Errboe said.
South Fork Wind — the first and smallest of the three projects at 124 megawatts — finished construction in 2024.
Both Revolution Wind and Sunrise Wind faced repeated
setbacks over the last year, as President Donald Trump’s administration twice
ordered a halts to offshore wind projects under development along the Atlantic
coast. The administration claimed the projects had the potential to interfere
with military radar, despite having undergone extensive reviews by defense
officials and the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.
Both times, developers successfully sued to lift the orders
and work was allowed to resume.
Revolution Wind is part of a joint partnership between
Ørsted and Skyborn Renewables, a German offshore wind developer which purchased
a 50% stake in the project from Eversource in 2024
In its earnings report on Thursday, Ørsted reported profits
of 5.4 billion Danish krone (equivalent to roughly $832 million), slightly
beating expectations, according to Reuters. Overall, the company said its
offshore wind installations generated 11.2 terawatt hours of electricity around
the world in the first half of 2026.
However, Ørsted also reported a non-cash impairment loss of
1.2 billion krone ($126 million) on its U.S. projects due to rising interest
rates.
“It continues to be a key priority for us to deliver on our
construction portfolio, and we’re very pleased with the milestones we’ve
reached this past quarter,” Errboe said in a statement. “We continue to
progress according to schedule and within planned costs across all projects.”
Amazon looks to build second mega-center in eastern CT, promising 500 jobs
Already proposing a 1.3 million-square-foot warehouse
in Connecticut’s
Quiet Corner, Amazon is now looking to build a 1.1 million-square-foot
distribution center less
than a half hour to the south.
The
world’s largest online retailer wants to use part of a 170-acre tract in
the Occum section of Norwich for an operation that would have 58 loading docks
and 422 trailer-parking slots along with 729 employee parking spaces.
In its pitch to the city, Amazon held out the lure of new
jobs and tax revenue.
The company estimated its Norwich fulfillment center would create the equivalent of 500 full-time jobs, and said its average hourly wage around the country is $23. Amazon also emphasized that its similar facilities nationally are assessed at more than $150 million, which could generate several million dollars a year in new tax revenue for the city.
The company said construction would generate another 200
temporary jobs.
The location is in the 185-acre Occum
Industrial Park, a property Norwich has designated as a center for jobs
growth. That could reduce community opposition, which often is triggered by
proximity to homes. Amazon is planning a much
smaller facility in Goreham, Maine, for instance, but this summer hit local
resistance because the site is alongside a neighborhood.
When Mayor Swarnjit Singh posted news of Amazon’s plan on social media,
there was little community pushback — but numerous responses urging the city
not to grant tax abatements or provide other incentives for the $2.9 trillion
company. Several posters suggested the city negotiate with Amazon to set a
minimum number of jobs that would be reserved for Norwich residents.
Amazon proposes a separate trailer-parking lot, a series of
truck staging areas and internal access drives, truck courts and more. The hub
would receive bulk deliveries of products. It would then select, package and
ship orders to local delivery centers, with all operations going on around the
clock.
“The proposed development would result in approximately 60.9
acres of impervious area,” Bluewater Property Group, Amazon’s developer for the
project, told Norwich’s inland wetlands commission in a memo.
Amazon acknowledged its plan would destroy 3 acres of
wetlands, but proposes to create and maintain about 9 acres of wetlands
elsewhere in the area. The wetlands board will take up the application on Oct.
1.
The plan reflect a wave of logistics operations moving into
eastern Connecticut, where easily developable land is plentiful and cheap
compared to the heavily developed communities west of the Connecticut River.
Another key attraction is I-395, eastern Connecticut’s
primary north-south route that provides easy access to I-95 and the Mass Pike
as well as smaller connections to Providence.
Costco, Lowe’s, Uline and others have been constructing
mega-warehouses in the region.
Until this year, most of Amazon’s development in Connecticut
focused on the western side of the state, with a heavy emphasis on towns near
Bradley International Airport. But with much of its infrastructure there
already in place, it has shifted new expansion plans eastward.
The retail behemoth already operates one of the most
enormous commercial buildings in the state and is planning more.
Its five-story fulfillment center near Bradley International
Airport measures 3.8 million square feet, and the company is just completing a
3.2 million-square-foot sister building on the Waterbury/Naugatuck border.
The Bradley facility is among Amazon’s largest in the
country, largely identical to its Johnson, R.I. center and several other
3.8-million-square-foot operations. The company’s six-story Ontario, Calif.
distribution center is substantially larger than any of them, measuring 4.5
million square feet.
Stamford, state to split cost of $7.46 million West Broad Street Bridge's yearlong rehab
Shaniece Harper, Robert Marchant
STAMFORD — A Stamford official
said it will take at least a year to rehabilitate the deteriorated West Broad
Street Bridge.
City Engineer Lou Casolo said the $7.46 million project will
address deteriorating portions of the bridge while allowing traffic and
pedestrians to continue using the busy downtown crossing.
"The bearing pads of the steel beams are at the end of
their life and require replacement," Casolo told the city's Board of
Finance at a Wednesday night meeting. "There's a lot of sidewalk
deficiencies, and this is more deterioration along the supports for the
railing."
The project will be funded evenly by the city and a grant
through the state Department of Transportation's State
Local Bridge Program. On Wednesday night, the Board of Finance signed off
on the project, including the allocation of roughly $3.7 million for the city's
share.
Casolo said the board needed to authorize the project
before Mayor Caroline Simmons could sign a commitment letter for Stamford's
portion of the cost.
Once the funding is in place, design work will begin, Casolo
said.
"It's not a full bridge replacement; it's a rehab
project," he said.
The bridge
was built in 1954, and carries traffic over the Rippowam River, also known
as the Mill River. It underwent a reconstruction in 1990, and Casolo said he
did an interim deck repair just a couple of years ago to keep traffic moving
because the section of the bridge “was so far deteriorated.”
Simmons welcomed the state grant.
"Located along one of our busiest downtown corridors,
this bridge is a vital connection for our community, and this funding will help
us continue making critical infrastructure investments that improve roadway
safety and keep Stamford moving," Simmons said.
Before approving the project Wednesday night, board
members asked how the rehabilitation would affect traffic and the
surrounding area.
“This is a really busy, high traffic bridge. How long is
this going to take?,” said Vice Chair Laura Burwick.
Casolo said construction could take between a year and a
year and a half and would be completed in stages so the bridge could remain
open.
“It would be done under stages to keep traffic flowing,” he
said. “That's probably the best way to do it. We wouldn't be able to really
close this down. It's just too much traffic to do it that way.”
Casolo said the work also would be staged to keep pedestrian
traffic moving, with barricades and fencing installed to protect people during
construction.
Chair Mary Lou Rinaldi asked how the project would affect a
nearby park, where unhoused people go for shelter.
“Is the rehab going to make it more difficult for people to
live under there?,” she said.
“That's definitely something that we can talk about during
design,” Casolo said.
“I mean, (it’s) something to think about,” Rinaldi said.
“You know, it affects the park. It affects just the overall quality of life.”
Amtrak Hosts High-Speed Rail Pop-Up in East Lyme
Luke Feeney
EAST LYME — Amtrak kicked off the Connecticut portion of its
public outreach on high-speed rail planning with a pop-up informational event.
The event on Saturday at Rocky Neck State Park is an early step toward
finalizing a route linking New Haven and Providence.
“What we really want to do is to make sure, as the project
team, to understand the technical and the rail service needs,” said Paul
Nelson, the project manager for HNTB. “But we want to get a better
understanding of where the communities are on what’s important to them and all
of that.”
HNTB consultants have been tasked by Amtrak with hosting
informational sessions in Rhode Island and Connecticut to gather public
feedback and outline the next steps for the two-year New Haven to Providence
Capacity Planning Study.
The event was held just a handful of miles from the heart of
grassroots opposition a decade ago to plans to route a high-speed rail bypass
through shoreline towns, including the historic district in neighboring Old
Lyme.
The study has been described by rail officials as a “fresh
approach” that will extend the study area — and possible routes — as far
north as Storrs and Hartford.
The Federal Rail Administration, which led the prior effort, eventually dropped
plans in 2017 for a Kenyon to Old Saybrook Bypass and for quad-tracking through
Guilford and Branford that would have supplemented the existing Northeast
Corridor along the shoreline.
Nelson said Amtrak’s “fresh approach” would take into
account hundreds of public comments submitted prior to the 2017 Record of
Decision, which finalized a master plan for rail travel between Washington,
D.C. and Boston, but failed to include a route between New Haven and
Providence.
“It’s not a clean slate in that we’ve wiped that clean and
completely forgotten about what occurred during that and the feedback that was
received. It’s more so that it’s a clean slate from like how do we solve the
problem,” Nelson told CT Examiner.
Saturday’s pop-up included a map providing residents an opportunity to say how
they use the train, where they travel by train, and their priorities for rail
travel, including frequency of service and environmental protection and
historic preservation.
Several people stopped by the pop-up and shared their
opinions with CT Examiner. Most prioritized faster trains and preserving the
surrounding environment.
“It’s a great idea, but you know, just at the beginning
stages, and I think you’re going to have a lot of challenges,” said Janice
Orsini, a Niantic resident.
Betsy and Walt Zalaski, of Niantic, said they were
interested in the study and project, but needed more information before they
could throw their support behind the plans.
“I think we’d need more information,” Betsy said. Walt added that he
appreciated the pop-up outreach to make “us aware of it, so we can think about
it.”
Caroline Grist, an Essex resident, said she supported the
project overall.
“I hope it really encourages more investment in a proper transportation
infrastructure. Unless people are going to produce evidence about the lack of a
transportation infrastructure, nothing will ever get done. Otherwise, it’s just
vague opinions,” Grist said.
Saturday’s event in East Lyme was first in Connecticut.
Earlier on Aug. 6, Amtrak hosted a similar event at Ninigret Park in
Charlestown, Rhode Island. Ten years ago, town officials and residents in
Charlestown also came out strongly against the proposed high-speed-rail bypass.
Nelson said several people who had taken part in the process
then, turned out last week to ask: How would this time around be different?
He said the biggest change would be better engagement with
the public.
“But that aside, I think what we’re also looking at is some
flexibility to the engineering solutions, and I would say the alignment options
are actually a little bit wider than they were last time too,” said Nelson.
Existing rail service along the roughly 170-year-old route
linking New Haven to Providence has been hamstrung by tight curves, dense
development, a century-old lift bridge and several at-grade crossings between
New London and Stonington.
The next pop-up event will be held Sunday at Scarborough North State Beach in
Rhode Island.
Nelson said after the pop-ups, Amtrak would be hosting open
house meetings in the fall, where he anticipates there would be “actual
materials that people can learn about and digest and provide feedback
on.”