To the editor:

Revolution Wind, an offshore wind project located south of Rhode Island and Connecticut, began delivering electricity to the New England grid on March 13. When fully operational, it is expected to generate about 704 megawatts of power, enough to supply hundreds of thousands of homes. It is the second offshore wind farm serving Rhode Island, following the earlier Block Island Wind Farm.

Its startup has raised a question locally in Portsmouth: Does this mean a large wind transmission cable has already been installed under the Sakonnet River, making Portsmouth a permanent transmission corridor?

The answer is no. Two different offshore wind projects are often being confused.

Revolution Wind, the project that has just begun operating, sends its power to shore through cables that run from the lease area in federal waters across Rhode Island Sound and into the West Passage of Narragansett Bay, where they make landfall at Quonset Business Park in North Kingstown. From there, electricity enters the regional grid at the Davisville substation. None of this route passes through Portsmouth or under the Sakonnet River.

The project that involves Portsmouth is SouthCoast Wind (formerly Mayflower Wind), a separate and larger offshore wind proposal. Its preferred transmission route would bring subsea cables north from its offshore lease area, enter the Sakonnet River and make landfall in Portsmouth using horizontal directional drilling near shore. The cables would then run underground across Aquidneck Island before exiting toward Mount Hope Bay and the grid connection at Brayton Point in Somerset, Mass.

Because this proposed corridor would cross Portsmouth, the town negotiated a host-community agreement worth more than $20 million over the life of the project. The package includes direct payments, property tax revenue and funding for community and environmental projects. State regulators have approved the basic transmission route, and local zoning officials have determined the facilities would be a permitted use.

However, SouthCoast Wind still lacks key federal approvals and long-term power contracts, and those issues could take years to resolve.

In short: Revolution Wind is now online and connected to the grid at Quonset. SouthCoast Wind — the project that would pass through Portsmouth — exists only as a proposed route on paper, and there is currently no cable under the Sakonnet River.

Joe Studlick

Portsmouth