Hartford Business Journal

14 HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | MAY 27, 2024 The Block Island Wind Farm in Rhode Island is the nation's first commercial-scale offshore wind farm. Rhode Island and Connecticut are collaborating on future wind farm projects. PHOTOS | CONTRIBUTED High Hopes With new leader, CT Wind Collaborative looks to build regional offshore wind corridor Engaging stakeholders The offshore wind industry has received greater attention in recent years as Connecticut policymakers try to pursue a clean energy future. Gov. Ned Lamont has committed the state to a 100% zero-carbon electricity supply by 2040, an aggres- sive goal that will require tapping into various clean energy sources, including wind. But the sector faces challenges, including rising construction and financing costs that have put some projects in jeopardy. For example, Avangrid last fall announced plans to terminate power purchase agreements with Connecti- cut's utilities, including its Orange- based subsidiary United Illuminating, for its planned 804-megawatt Park City Wind project, to be located off the coast of Martha's Vineyard. In doing so, Avangrid, cited "unprece- dented economic headwinds facing the (wind) industry including record inflation, supply chain disruptions, and sharp interest rate hikes." Meantime, Everource announced plans last year to divest its 50% ownership stake in three offshore wind projects in New York and Connecticut. However, Lamont showed his continued support for wind energy last fall, when he committed Connecticut to joining Massachusetts and Rhode Island in jointly purchasing offshore wind-generated power. And in March, a three-state solici- tation by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island received project proposals from four different devel- opers, including Avangrid and Ørsted. A high-profile project occurring in Connecticut is Revolution Wind, which has led to a multimillion-dollar investment in the New London State Pier, where the development will be staged. Revolution Wind is expected to generate 304 megawatts of elec- tricity for Connecticut and another 400 megawatts for Rhode Island — enough to power 350,000 homes. In October, Lamont also announced By Skyler Frazer sfrazer@hartfordbusiness.com W hat a difference a year makes. When the state's Chief Manufacturing Officer Paul Lavoie attended an international offshore wind energy conference more than a year ago with little knowledge of what Connecticut's approach to the industry would look like, he felt alone in a room full of experts who believed the Nutmeg State didn't have a plan for growing the sector. But in late April, at the 2024 Inter- national Partnering Forum (IPS) — considered the largest wind energy conference in the Americas — Lavoie got a different message: Connecticut was establishing itself as a leader in wind turbine technology and energy procurement. "The industry is telling us that Connecticut is now the gold standard for offshore wind collaboration, and for building a strategic roadmap and executing against that roadmap by bringing multiple states together in a partnership to help grow offshore wind," Lavoie said of the feedback he got at the IPS conference. In addition to being the state's manu- facturing czar, Lavoie is board chair of the Groton-based Connecticut Wind Collaborative, a group created last year to bolster Connecticut and the region's offshore wind energy industry by creating dialogue and partnerships between businesses, legislative officials and stakeholders in Massa- chusetts and Rhode Island. The group is beginning to gain its footing, after recently naming its first executive director, Kristin Urbach, who has seven years of offshore wind industry experience. Urbach most recently served as head of the North Kingstown (R.I.) Chamber of Commerce, a post she held since 2015. That's where she began her offshore wind energy industry work, leading a business group that consisted of several stakeholders in Rhode Island's Block Island Wind Farm project, the nation's first commercial-scale offshore wind farm. Urbach, in her new role, reports to a 15-member board, led by Lavoie. She spent her first few weeks on the job meeting board members and brainstorming how the cross-state collaborative group will operate. Speaking about her experience at the International Partnering Forum, Urbach said Connecticut's collab- orative approach to wind industry development is something others are noticing. "At IPS, everybody was talking about Connecticut's new collabora- tion and the connection between the three states," Urbach said. "A lot of states haven't done what we're doing — there are a few, but not many." Kristin Urbach is the new executive director of the Connecticut Wind Collaborative.

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