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Jeffrey Grybowski stepping down as CEO of offshore wind company Ørsted

July 24, 2019 — Jeffrey Grybowski is stepping down as co-CEO of Ørsted U.S. Offshore Wind after nine months in the position and a decade before that with the Rhode Island startup that built the first offshore wind farm in the United States.

He assumed his current position in October when Ørsted, the Danish company that is a global leader in offshore wind, paid $510 million to acquire Deepwater Wind, the Providence-based company that completed the five-turbine Block Island Wind Farm in 2016. His last day on the job was Tuesday.

By proving that an offshore wind farm could be built in the United States, Grybowski is arguably more responsible than anyone for ushering in the current rush of development, which has seen projects proposed along the Atlantic coast from Massachusetts to Virginia.

Grybowski, 48, of North Kingstown, said in an interview that he will take some time off before figuring out his next move. He plans to stay in Rhode Island and use his experience to start a new energy venture.

“I think there are a lot of interesting opportunities to transition from the old way of producing and using energy to the new way of doing it,” he said.

His decision comes less than a week after Ørsted and its partner Eversource, the New England utility, were selected by New York to develop an 880-megawatt offshore wind farm and a month after New Jersey chose Ørsted to build a 1,100-megawatt project that is the largest proposal so far in the United States.

Read the full story at the Providence Journal

Company to explore ocean floor off Maryland’s coast to prepare for offshore wind plans

August 1, 2018 — Deepwater Wind, which operates a wind farm in waters off Rhode Island, wants to build another one off the Maryland coast. But before its proposal can go forward, the company needs to know what lies on the sea floor here — and within the ancient layers of sediment beneath it.

So geologists, marine biologists and archaeologists will spend the next couple of months seeking answers, scouting the potential footprint of a wind energy project planned near the mouth of the Delaware Bay.

The survey, being launched this week, is a key step in advancing a proposal vying to be the nation’s second offshore wind farm.

“You can imagine, if you’re going to build a house, you want to know more than just what’s the geology in your town,” said Jeffrey Grybowski, the company’s CEO. “We need to have a very detailed picture of the ocean floor.”

That includes any hills or valleys, boulders or sand dunes, thriving habitats for aquatic life, and even any shipwrecks.

Read the full story at the Capital Gazette

 

Rhode Island and Massachusetts Announce Largest Procurement of Offshore Wind in Nation’s History

May 24, 2018 — PROVIDENCE, R.I. — The following was released by the Office of Governor Gina Raimondo: 

Building on her commitment to a clean, affordable and reliable energy future, Governor Gina Raimondo announced today that Rhode Island has selected Deepwater Wind, the Rhode Island-based clean energy developer, to construct a new, 400-megawatt offshore wind farm. The Revolution Wind project–more than ten times the size of the Block Island Wind Farm–was selected through a competitive offshore wind procurement process in collaboration with Massachusetts.

“Rhode Island made history when we built the first offshore wind farm in the United States,” said Governor Gina M. Raimondo. “Today, we are doing it again. This new, large-scale offshore wind project will bring clean and low-cost power to Rhode Islanders and further diversify our energy resources–all while adding good-paying jobs to our growing economy.”

“Rhode Island pioneered American offshore wind energy, and it’s only fitting that the Ocean State continues to be the vanguard of this growing industry,” said Deepwater Wind CEO Jeffrey Grybowski. “We applaud Governor Raimondo for her bold commitment to a clean energy future. We are building a new industry here in Rhode Island while driving down the cost of clean energy. Revolution Wind will mean lots of jobs for Rhode Island and major investments in local infrastructure.”

Deepwater Wind’s Revolution Wind project was selected through Rhode Island’s participation in a clean energy procurement process conducted by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Rhode Island state agencies, including the Office of Energy Resources and the Division of Public Utilities and Carriers, independently evaluated the proposals.

In March 2017, Governor Raimondo set a goal for Rhode Island to increase its clean energy resources portfolio ten-fold by 2020 to reach a total of 1,000 megawatts. Today’s announcement represents a significant step toward achieving that goal.

The success of the Block Island Wind Farm was due in large part to the willingness of all stakeholders to come together from the outset, and Governor Raimondo looks forward to building on that collaboration. Rhode Island’s commercial and recreational fisheries are a critical component of our marine economy and will play a large role in this process.

Deepwater Wind will now enter negotiations with National Grid, which will submit a proposed contract to the Public Utilities Commission for regulatory review. The project will also be subject to a federal approval process before it proceeds.

 

Deepwater considers Massachusetts’ South Coast for major offshore wind development

March 28, 2018 — Deepwater Wind will assemble the wind-turbine foundations for its Revolution Wind in Massachusetts, and it has identified three South Coast cities – New Bedford, Fall River, and Somerset – as possible locations for this major fabrication activity.

The offshore wind developer is committed to building a local workforce and supply chain for its 400-MW Revolution Wind project, now under review by state and utility officials. Deepwater Wind says it plans to create 2,300 regional jobs and nearly $300 million in regional economic impact.

“No company is more committed to building a local offshore wind workforce than us,” said Deepwater Wind CEO Jeffrey Grybowski. “We launched America’s offshore wind industry right here in our backyard. We know how to build offshore wind in the U.S. in the right way, and our smart approach will be the most affordable solution for the Commonwealth. This is about building a real industry that lasts.”

The construction activity will involve welding, assembly, painting, commissioning, and related work for the 1,500-ton steel foundations supporting the turbine towers. This foundation-related work will create more than 300 direct jobs for local construction workers during Revolution Wind’s construction period. An additional 600 indirect and induced jobs will support this effort.

In addition, Deepwater Wind is now actively seeking proposals from Massachusetts boat builders for the construction of purpose-built crew vessels for Revolution Wind. Several dozen workers are expected to build the first of these vessels at a local boat-building facility, and another dozen workers will operate this specialty vessel over the life of Revolution Wind. (Deepwater Wind commissioned America’s only offshore wind crew vessel – Atlantic Wind Transfer’s Atlantic Pioneer – to serve the Block Island Wind Farm.)

The company will issue a formal Request for Information to local suppliers in the coming weeks. Deepwater Wind’s additional wind farms serving Massachusetts will require the construction of additional vessels.

Read the full story at Windpower Engineering & Development

 

Massachusetts: Three companies submit bids for offshore wind power

December 21, 2017 — Three offshore wind energy developers bid Wednesday on contracts to sell electricity to Massachusetts power companies, taking the next big step in a process that could set turbines spinning south of Martha’s Vineyard within the next five years.

“It’s in the hands of the utilities,” Vineyard Wind Chief Development Officer Erich Stephens said.

By April, Vineyard Wind, Bay State Wind and Revolution Wind will hear whether their bids have been selected for negotiation by the handful of electric distribution companies that will buy the wind energy. By the end of July, the utilities and offshore wind energy companies are expected to finalize long-term contracts and hand them over to the state Department of Public Utilities for review and approval.

Depending on the wind energy company, construction of anywhere from 50 to 100 turbines in federally leased, submerged areas could begin within two to five years. In addition to securing contracts to sell their energy, the companies face federal and state permitting requirements, including through the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.

“The critical path is the federal permit,” said Bay State Wind representative Michael Ausere, who is also vice president of business development for Eversource, which distributes electricity on Cape Cod and the Vineyard and is one of the utilities that would buy power from the wind farms. “This will be the first large-scale offshore wind farm.”

Read the full story at the Cape Cod Times

 

First US off-shore wind farm to start generating power

September 7, 2016 — The first off-shore wind farm in the U.S. is nearing completion off the coast of Rhode Island. In the past there’s been opposition to these ventures. But this one, which has been planned as a demonstration project, has managed to go forward.

A Rhode Island company, Deepwater Wind, is behind this nearly $300 million project. The five turbines were recently finished after more than a year of construction.

“The first off-shore wind farm in America will be ready to start spinning its blades, and that’s a momentous occasion, believe me,” said Jeffrey Grybowski, Deepwater’s CEO and a former chief of staff for Rhode Island Gov. Donald L. Carcieri.

But there is another constituency which isn’t so keen on these off-shore wind farms: commercial fishermen. In this part of the Atlantic they catch squid and cod, and there’s a scallops fishery, which alone generates a half billion dollars a year. They’re worried that their livelihood will suffer. And in fact, in Rhode Island commercial fishing was disrupted during construction and one operation had to be relocated.

Read the full story at WBFO