Learning Outside The Classroom: Visiting The Block Island Wind Farm
Photo by Taylor Gosk, MEM '27
Written by: Shira Lyss-Loren, MEM ‘27
The Yale School of Environment (YSE) Energy and Environment Learning Community (LC) visited the Block Island Wind Farm on Friday, October 3rd. The trip brought students from YSE and other Yale graduate schools face to face with the first offshore wind farm in the United States.
Wind whipping through our hair and billowing jackets. Loud chatter and cameras at the ready. On Friday October 3rd the scene aboard the boat buzzed with excitement as 45 students awaited their first glimpse of the Block Island Wind Farm, America’s first offshore wind farm. From diverse disciplines, professional backgrounds, and graduate institutions across Yale, some students had never been up close to a wind turbine while others had spent years working on offshore wind energy development previously. Students with little prior knowledge of the offshore wind energy space chatted with those who have dedicated their careers to advancing offshore wind as a solution to meeting the rising energy demand without increasing use of fossil fuels. Amber Hewett, who worked on the initial Block Island permitting and community engagement and now works for the National Wildlife Federation (NWF), joined us on our journey.
The Block Island Wind Farm presents a unique opportunity to learn how financial incentives, political support, conservation interests, and communities came together on this first-of-its-kind project in the U.S. to establish a clean energy source off the coast of Block Island, RI. Replacing five diesel generators that had powered the Island, the turbines not only power Block Island – and avoid 40,000 tons of CO2 emissions on the Island – but generate enough energy to export 90% back to the mainland as well (The Starting Five, Ørsted). While approval and construction of these five turbines was not without its challenges, Hewett shared anecdotes demonstrating how conservation interests can partner with developers to ensure construction does not interfere with wildlife processes such as whale migration.
There is a general sense of pride among Block Island residents for being home to the first successful offshore windfarm in the U.S. shares Kyra Hall, Masters in Environmental Management '27 and part-time resident of Block Island. Almost half of Block Island’s land is preserved by a land trust (The Nature Conservancy), and Kyra sees “the wind farm as well-aligned with the Conservancy’s sustainable goals for Block Island and the progressive attitudes of community members.” Most Block Island visitors are vacationers and seasonal staff during the summer months, Kyra shares, “which results in confusion and misinformation on the island regarding the wind farm.” As a result of the recent trip to the wind farm, Kyra is excited to now be a trusted messenger of verified learnings from both Hewett and Ørsted for Block Island visitors and community members, not only dispelling misinformation but building political and community excitement about the potential of offshore wind energy to scale across coastal U.S. communities.
Amidst an unfriendly political climate towards renewable energy, especially wind, seeing the project and hearing from Hewett instilled a sense of hope for students, and reaffirmed commitments to work across sectors to advance clean energy. Yarin Lin, MBA ‘27, brought an international perspective reflecting on how this trip connects to his years working in offshore wind development construction in Taiwan, Australia, and Japan: “See[ing] the first commercial wind project in the United States...kind of reminds me of where we were like 5 years ago when I was in Taiwan. We grew from 6-megawatt wind turbines and right now the largest one we have in Taiwan is 14 megawatts, so we can really see how the industry can grow in 5 years.” He adds that while wind may be facing a downturn in popularity amongst policymakers and the public, he firmly believes that “if we get the momentum back, we can speed up and catch up on the trend again.” While the Trump administration has been anything but supportive of offshore wind, Lin’s perspective demonstrates that progress towards clean energy dominance can be made quickly, once policy and finance levers are pulled simultaneously.
Taylor Gosk, Masters in Environmental Management '27, has spent her career working on clean energy policy across sectors, and shared in Lin’s sentiment that offshore wind energy not only has massive potential to scale quickly but that it is “an important piece of the puzzle overall” towards a “holistic grid, especially in the Northeast United States.” She recognizes that while it “may take some time to realize the full financial potential of offshore wind” there is an undeniable “benefit in having large sources of clean energy directly off the coast of major population centers.” She agrees with many others that wind is unfortunately politically unpopular but remains hopeful that with elected official engagement and effective policymaking, the tide could turn towards building for the future of clean energy.
Offshore wind energy in the U.S. is at an impasse. Without tax incentives and political support for wind, it falls to communities and industry to forge ahead towards the future of 40 gigawatt turbines such as those Lin described in Taiwan. Students left this trip energized to delve into policy, financial, and community support levers needed to expand projects like Block Islands across the coast of the U.S. to not only power our cities but to mitigate climate impacts and ensure a just transition to clean energy.