Opinion: Winter proves New England can create a clean energy future

On the same day earlier this month, Vineyard Wind completed its 804MW project off Massachusetts and Revolution Wind off Rhode Island began producing power to light hundreds of thousands of homes in Rhode Island and Connecticut.

This winter has proven that New England can create its own energy future, one that removes us from the soaring costs of war and oil company profits and provides us with thousands of jobs, predictable bills, and cleaner air.

The first two utility-scale wind projects in the United States — right here, off our shores — are working even better than expected. South Fork Wind and Vineyard Wind powered hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses during the record-breaking cold, wind, and blizzards of the last three months. Together, they helped the region save millions of dollars that otherwise would have gone to high-priced polluting gas and more emergency use of dirty outdated oil plants.

The importance of this first-year performance cannot be overstated. South Fork and Vineyard Wind reliably kept power flowing at steady low cost under long-term contracts when it was needed most in extraordinarily challenging conditions. Unlike gas, the cost of the North Atlantic wind didn’t go up 60 percent when it got cold. Unlike gas, wind performs best in the winter.

Now, as war fuels soaring costs for propane, oil, and gas, potentially for months, it becomes clearer every day that the Northeast needs to do everything it can to pursue long-planned offshore wind projects on the drawing board for the Gulf of Maine and off the coast of Massachusetts and Rhode Island. It is clear that, combined with more solar power, New England can get out from under the thumb of erratic high energy costs.

South Fork and Vineyard Wind are just the first shots in a clean energy revolution. 

South Fork Wind, much of it built in Connecticut and located less than 20 miles from Block Island, has proven itself for more than a year, powering 70,000 homes and businesses on Long Island. Over the course of 2025, South Fork provided electricity on 99 percent of all days and across 92 percent of all hours. Vineyard Wind is already providing power to more than 300,000 homes and businesses and transmitted electricity seamlessly through January’s record cold and February’s snow and winds at a fraction of the cost the power grid was paying for fossil fuels during peak hours.

Vineyard Wind will power 400,000 homes and businesses in the next few weeks. The project has created more than 3,700 jobs in New England and helped redevelop the Port of New Bedford.

Revolution Wind off Point Judith, Rhode Island, will eventually power 350,000 homes in Connecticut and Rhode Island. It has created more than 2,000 jobs and revitalized the Port of New London, Connecticut.

Instead of importing and burning gas and oil to create our electricity, South Fork, Vineyard Wind, and Revolution Wind will generate power affordably for the next 30 to 35 years from wind. And that will prevent more than 3 million tons of carbon each year from fouling our air, damaging our health, and fueling climate change by replacing fossil fuels. That’s the equivalent of taking more than 650,000 cars off the road.

Following in quick order, Sunrise Wind will begin providing electricity to 600,000 homes this year from turbines in the waters between Rhode Island and Long Island. Coastal Virginia Wind is expected to begin powering 660,000 homes this month from the ocean off Virginia Beach.

Our region has been under enormous pressure over the last year to burn more gas, oil, and coal, with calls to build multi-billion dollar pipelines and with unsubstantiated — and completely untrue — claims alleging wind turbines killed whales. At the same time, wind energy projects have repeatedly been targeted with frivolous lawsuits, subjected to federal attacks, had their permits revoked, and been ordered to shut down.

Given the performance of offshore wind this winter, and the cost of fossil fuels today, it is completely understandable why the petroleum industry and their political allies wanted so desperately to stop these massive clean energy projects.

Wind and solar are winning. Nationally, solar, wind, and batteries dominate in the race to add new sources of electricity to affordably meet soaring demand. Solar is the cheapest and fastest growing source of energy in the U.S. and globally.

Wind helped keep our lights burning this winter. During the heat wave that hit the region last summer, rooftop solar and batteries saved us from losing power — and saved consumers almost $20 million in fuel costs.

Time after time in the last few months what has saved offshore wind is the rule of law — repeated court rulings have said work should continue, that we would not go backward on energy.

That fight is far from over. But the results from this very tough winter make it even more imperative we keep it up.

Kate Sinding Daly is senior vice president for law and policy at Conservation Law Foundation.