The third-largest offshore wind project in the United States, Revolution Wind, sent energy to the Connecticut and Rhode Island power grids for the first time on Saturday, March 14, the company announced. 

 

When fully operational, Revolution Wind will produce 704 megawatts of energy for the grid, powering over 350,000 homes and businesses in the region. This operational success follows the project's temporary halt of construction by the Trump Administration in August and December of 2025. Each stop-work order was overturned by judges issuing temporary injunctions, allowing the project’s investors to restart construction. 

 

Despite the Trump administration’s objections, wind energy experts say Revolution Wind will improve the environment and health of Rhode Island and Connecticut residents. The offshore wind projects in the region will also bolster the New England economy, saving consumers money. 

 

“If these offshore wind projects had been online for New England in the winter of 2024 and 2025, we could have saved upwards of $400 million in energy bills,” Katie Segal, Senior Offshore Wind Director at the Environmental League of Massachusetts, said. 

 

All three of the largest United States offshore wind projects, including Vineyard Wind 1 and Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind, have recently started sending energy into their respective power grids. These projects plan to increase the number of operational wind turbines periodically, until they are sending the maximum energy to the grid. 

 

President Trump has spoken out against wind energy, including making inaccurate claims that the noise from wind turbines can cause cancer and that power will turn off when the wind isn’t strong. Many believe the president’s distaste for wind energy originated in 2012 when he entered a legal battle over turbines being built off the coast of his Aberdeenshire golf course in Scotland. 

 

“It’s no secret that the president doesn’t like wind energy for personal reasons,” environmental lawyer Josh Kaplowitz of Troutman Pepper Locke LLP said. “The fact that there were now wind turbines within view of his golf course made him upset.” 

 

Since Trump's return to office in 2025, his administration has forced Revolution Wind to stop work twice. On August 22, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management sent an order instructing the project to stop construction, citing national security reasons. Revolution Wind was 80% complete at this point and had received approval from the Department of Defense before construction began. 

 

“Revolution Wind is fully permitted,” the company said in a statement, “having secured all required federal and state permits, including its Construction and Operations Plan approval letter on 17 November 2023, following reviews that began more than nine years ago.” 

 

Revolution Wind filed for a preliminary injunction, a court order issued by a judge declaring the stop-work order illegal. On September 22, the project was granted the injunction, allowing them to continue working as the lawsuit against the stop-work order made its way through the courts. Revolution Wind restarted all impacted activities shortly after the judge ordered the injunction, hoping to make up for lost time.

 

Just three months later, on December 22, Revolution Wind was one of five offshore wind projects that had their leases suspended by the federal government. The federal government said the stoppage was due to turbine blades interfering with military radar and creating interference.

 

These projects operate on public land leased from the federal government. When a lease is suspended, these companies have no legal authority over the land on which their projects are constructed, and are not allowed to continue work. 

 

“They were hemorrhaging more than a million dollars every day of delay,” Kaplowitz said. “If they were delayed too long, they were going to lose access to these very specialized vessels that are used to install the wind turbines.”

 

Revolution Wind was granted its injunction on January 12, less than a month after the order was originally made. The other four offshore wind projects also received their injunctions in the following month. Revolution Wind is now over 90% completed and has started sending energy to the Rhode Island and Connecticut grids. 

 

Advocates for offshore wind are excited about what these projects being operational means for the region, especially as the projects start to lower energy bills. A study by The American Clean Power Association shows that offshore wind projects in the United States will create more than 55,000 jobs by the year 2030. 

 

“There are so many manufacturing jobs that are available in non-coastal states to make the parts for turbines,” Offshore Wind Director Segal said. “There's been a boost in shipbuilding because we need different types of ships to make offshore wind projects.” 

 

Segal went on to explain that wind energy also decreases greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution because it lessens the amount of time fossil fuel plants need to spend creating energy. Excitement about advances in wind energy hasn’t necessarily reached the public yet, though, as many are cautious about how beneficial the project will actually be. 

 

Keira O’Brien, a former Connecticut resident and student at The George Washington University, is concerned that wind turbines are negatively affecting the region's ecology, especially migratory birds. These projects undergo extensive environmental testing to minimise impacts on wildlife, but her unease reflects a lack of awareness of offshore wind safety checks. Residents are also concerned that wind turbines are not producing as much energy as they claim.

 

“I have seen way too many wind turbines on the windiest of days, sitting there, not spinning, and just not generating energy,” O’Brien said. 

 

Statements by the Trump administration echo mistrust towards wind energy, too, especially as they take deliberate action to decrease its activity within the United States. Last week, the Department of the Interior announced that the Trump administration will pay the French energy company TotalEnergies $928 million to stop plans to build wind farms off the East Coast of the U.S., and instead direct the money towards oil and gas. 

 

“Producing wind energy is a clean, reliable, domestic source of power,” Segal said. “If you're making it more lucrative for them to invest in oil and gas, it's really counter to what we want to do from a climate and domestic energy supply perspective.”