November 17, 2025 — Rhode Island’s second attempt to grow its offshore wind portfolio is dead in the water.
Michael Dalo, a spokesperson for Rhode Island Energy, confirmed in an email to Rhode Island Current Friday morning that the company ended its negotiations with SouthCoast Wind to purchase power from the project.
The news comes more than a year after Rhode Island officials unveiled a tentative contract with SouthCoast Wind developers to buy 200 megawatts of electricity from the project planned south of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket. Negotiations finalizing the deal stalled multiple times due to a series of setbacks by the Trump administration, including the pullback of a key federal permit for the project.
Dalo cited the federal uncertainty facing the offshore wind industry as reason for the cutoff of contract negotiations.
“After several [power purchase agreement] negotiation extensions and continued uncertainty in the offshore wind industry, we were unable to come to agreeable terms” Dalo said in his email. “We remain fully supportive of the offshore wind industry and look forward to future clean energy [sic] opportunities as the industry evolves.”
He did not immediately respond to follow-up questions including when the deal was officially cast aside. The latest deadline, Nov. 1, came and went with no public acknowledgement from either party on the status of the talks.
SouthCoast Wind also did not immediately respond to inquiries for comment on Friday.
Disappointing, but not surprising, was how Amanda Barker, the Rhode Island state committee lead for New England for Offshore Wind, characterized the news.