Danish offshore wind company buys Rhode Island developer

PROVIDENCE — An offshore wind developer based in Rhode Island is being acquired by the Danish offshore wind company, Orsted.

Providence-based Deepwater Wind announced Monday that Orsted has entered into an agreement to buy it. Orsted says it’s paying $510 million.

Deepwater Wind built the first U.S. offshore wind farm off Block Island.

It’s currently developing three wind farms to supply power to Rhode Island, Connecticut, Long Island, New York, and Maryland.

Deepwater Wind says it’ll expand in the coming years, making Providence and Boston the two major hubs of the company’s U.S. offshore wind activities.

The name of the new organization will be Orsted U.S. Offshore Wind.

The company says operations at the Block Island Wind Farm will continue as normal. Its investments in Rhode Island, including development of the Revolution Wind Warm, the 400-megawatt project selected by the Raimondo administration in May to supply power to Rhode Island, will continue as planned, the company said.

The 50-turbine Revolution Wind project is expected to create more than 800 jobs in Rhode Island, as well as “dozens more long-term maintenance and operations jobs,” the company said in a press release.

Deepwater is working on several wind farms in federally leased waters between Block Island and Martha’s Vineyard. In addition to Revolution Wind Farm, it’s developing South Fork Wind Farm, a 90-megawatt project that would supply power to Long Island and a 200-megawatt project that would supply power for Connecticut.

“As we invest in the new company, Rhode Island will play a very important role in our growth plans. We stand behind Deepwater Wind’s commitments to invest $40 million in Rhode Island ports and create hundreds of jobs locally building the Revolution Wind farm and other projects,” said Martin Neubert, CEO of Offshore Wind at Orsted.

Thomas Brostrom, CEO of Orsted U.S. Offshore Wind and president of Orsted North America, said, “Deepwater Wind has done a fantastic job as a first-mover in U.S. offshore wind, and I look forward to joining and integrating the two U.S. organizations.

“We have exciting times ahead of us delivering large-scale clean energy projects to households and businesses in Rhode Island, Maryland, Massachusetts, Long Island/New York, Connecticut and New Jersey. Orsted will maintain a strong presence in Rhode Island and Massachusetts and will of course honor the local commitments associated with Deepwater Wind’s projects along the East Coast.”

Deepwater Wind CEO Jeffrey Grybowski has been named co-CEO of the new combined company, Orsted U.S. Offshore Wind. When the deal closes, the company will be lead by a team consisting of Grybowski; Brostrom, the CEO; and David Hang, president; and a new chief operation officer from the Orsted organization.

Grybowski and Hang will be based in Providence, while Brostrom and other senior executives will be based in Boston, the company said.

Grybowski said in the press release, “Orsted is one of the world’s great clean energy companies and real pioneers in the offshore wind sector. We could not be more pleased with this combination, which will bring together two great teams to realize an enormous clean energy resource for coastal populations in the United States.

“None of this would be possible without the vision, creativity and dedication of our owners at D.E. Shaw, a truly innovative and steadfast owner,” Grybowski said. “Bryan Martin will long be known as the father of offshore wind in America. We move from one pioneer to another.”

Orsted and its partners recently opened the world’s largest wind farm, capable of powering about 600,000 homes, in the Irish Sea.

Orsted developed the world’s first offshore wind farm in Denmark in 1991, according to Orsted. It now operates 24 offshore wind farms and has 2,200 employees. The company currently operates more than 5,100 megawatts of offshore wind and plans to reach 7,500 megawatts by 2020, it says.

- With Providence Journal reports.