Incorporated as Deepwater Wind, LLC of Providence, Rhode Island, the company's major investors include First Wind, a developer of land-based wind projects in the United States; D.E. Shaw & Co., a capital investment firm with energy sector experience; and Ospraie Management, an asset management firm interested in alternative energy markets. It was acquired by Ørsted in 2019. In November 2017, Deepwater Wind pledged to fund a $1 million commitment towards the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth's School for Marine Science and Technology and the Massachusetts Marine Fisheries Institute. The funding went towards Blue Economy Initiative, a project led by SMAST and the MFI in order to conduct thorough research on the relations between wild fisheries and offshore wind development, with a focus on commercial fishing activities, over a five-year period.
The concept was set forth in a plan offered by then Rhode Island Governor Donald L. Carcieri in 2006. The aim of the Carcieri plan was to develop large-scale offshore wind projects in the south-eastern New England region of the United States, and in the State of Rhode Island, in a bid to diversify Rhode Island's power supply with renewable energy sources. In June 2007, the Rhode Island Office of Energy Resources determined ten sites in the region of ocean within the boundaries of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. On September 25, 2008, Governor Carcieri announced that Deepwater Wind was chosen as the successful developer to construct both a test site and the finalized plan for the wind power project - the Block Island Wind Farm - off New Shoreham. The ocean facility is planned to provide 1.3 million megawatt hours per year of renewable energy at its completion — 15 percent of all electricity used in the state. In 2009, Deepwater signed an agreement with National Grid to sell the power from the $200-million USD, 30-MW wind farm off Block Island, at an initial price of 24.4 ¢ USD/kW·h. Block Island Wind Farm was commissioned in December 2016.
Projects
VOWTAP
in - A small project consisting of two wind turbines off the coast of Virginia Beach, generating a combined total of 12MW, built for Dominion Energy. Potential for expansion of up to 2,000MW. Bluewater Wind and Ørsted US Offshore Wind are participating. Construction began in May 2020.
