Wind-power developer opens 2nd R.I. office

PROVIDENCE — The construction of more offshore wind farms on the East Coast is on hold as federal regulators reconsider their impacts, but that hasn’t deterred the leading developer in the global industry from opening its second office in Providence.

Orsted U.S. Offshore Wind’s new innovation hub is small, with only two full-time staff members and space for seven other employees of the Danish parent company to cycle through, but Orsted executives say its presence reflects confidence in the future of the American market.

“We are still pretty optimistic,” Thomas Brostrom, president of Orsted’s operations in North America, said in an interview. “We are getting anxious to move on, but nothing to make our hands shake.”

He spoke outside the new office in the Wexford Innovation Center on Monday before the official opening of the work space. In a demonstration of the importance of Orsted to the growth of Rhode Island’s “blue economy” — commercial activities centered around the ocean — Gov. Gina Raimondo joined Brostrom and others at the event.

Offshore wind alone could generate 20,000 supply-chain jobs along the Atlantic coast, said Raimondo, citing one recent report.

“That’s what’s up for grabs here,” she said. “Tens of thousands of high-paying jobs in a brand-new industry that’s being birthed right here in the state of Rhode Island.”

The office will function as the first stop for companies that want to do business with Orsted and whose technologies would help with the construction or operation of its wind farms, which include the 700-megawatt project known as the Revolution Wind Farm that would supply power to Rhode Island and Connecticut.

They could be technologies that reduce construction noise to lessen the negative impacts on marine mammals. Or they could be things that help with the installation of transmission cables.

The new hub is the only office of its kind that Orsted operates outside of its headquarters in Copenhagen. The company had an outpost in Silicon Valley with a similar focus, but closed it a couple of years ago.

It makes more sense to have this type of office on the East Coast, where Orsted operates the nation’s only offshore wind farm — near Block Island — and where, in the waters between Massachusetts and Maryland, the company is planning four more projects in addition to the Revolution proposal.

Orsted considered other locations in the Northeast, but settled on Rhode Island for several reasons. For one, the company has an office in Providence already, where its engineering and development staff are based.

The presence of other blue-economy companies in the state and work at the University of Rhode Island, Brown University and other higher-education institutions were also key, said Matthew Morrissey, Orsted’s head of New England markets.

“The innovation economy is very real,” he said. “These linkages were made plain to us when we were looking to open this office.”

And then there was the work by Raimondo, Commerce Secretary Stefan Pryor and others to make the company feel wanted.

“You feel the importance of what we’re doing here,” said Brostrom.

The current concerns around offshore wind were raised in connection to another developer, Vineyard Wind, and its 800-megawatt proposal in waters off Rhode Island and Massachusetts. The federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management delayed the regulatory process for the project to look mainly at how commercial fishermen would be affected.

The decision pushed back permitting for Orsted and others, but the situation is improving, said Brostrom.

“We’re getting the right signals now,” he said. akuffner@ providencejournal.com

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