Officials mum on reasoning

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The McKee administration said Wednesday that Revolution Wind II "did not meet the energy requirements of the ACES Act," but declined to provide more specific information about the project's rejection.

Interim state energy commissioner Chris Kearns on Tuesday and Wednesday did not respond to emails from Business First seeking specific information about the Office of Energy Resource's role in the decision-making process, and about the procedure moving forward.

However, an Office of Energy Resources spokesperson said "discussions are underway" to craft a new RFP, and that no legislative changes will be needed to do so.

Under Rhode Island's 2014 Affordable Clean Energy Act, or ACES, the evaluation of any offshore wind bid must be conducted by the state's largest utility "in consultation with" the R.I. Office of Energy Resources and the R.I. Division of Public Utilities and Carriers.

The ACES Act, which empowers the state to seek competitive bids for offshore wind capacity, specifically says that a bid may be rejected if the utility finds the proposal to be "commercially unreasonable." But it's not clear if Rhode Island Energy made that exact determination.

The November 2022 bid package that Ørsted responded to further specifies that Rhode Island Energy "is not required to enter into negotiations with any bidder if it determines that those negotiations are unlikely to lead to a contract that complies with all of the requirements" of the ACES Act.

More details are expected when Rhode Island Energy, within the next 60 days, files a report with the R.I. Public Utilities Commission that specifies its reasoning for rejecting the wind project.

In the meantime, the state's offshore wind growth prospects remain on hold.