What terminating the contracts actually did
Park City Wind took its name from Bridgeport, the Park City, where the power was meant to come ashore. It was Avangrid's anchor offshore wind project for Connecticut, roughly 804 megawatts under long-term contracts that the state's utilities had signed. In 2023 the developer negotiated out of those contracts and paid to walk away, and state regulators signed off on the exit.
A terminated contract is not a paused one. The megawatts simply left the plan, and the utilities were released from buying power that was never going to be built on those terms. The lease area in federal waters still exists, so some future version could in theory be rebid, but at last public report nothing new has been signed to take the 804 megawatts' place.
The docket that has to carry the next round
In Connecticut the path runs through two agencies most ratepayers never see. The Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP, the state agency that runs energy solicitations) puts out the request for proposals, and the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA, the body that reviews utility contracts) has to approve whatever the utilities sign. To spread risk, Connecticut joined a multistate procurement with Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
That shared round did produce selections in the other two states. Connecticut, by contrast, declined to pick a new offshore wind project, with DEEP pointing to the cost to ratepayers. So the machinery exists and has been used, but for this state it came back empty, which is why the slot is still open heading into 2026.
The honest math on price
The reason the last round failed is not mysterious. Between higher interest rates, supply chain costs, and uncertainty over federal tax credits, the bids that came back were well above what the earlier Park City deal had promised. For a state already near the top of the country on electricity prices, signing a contract that locks in those costs for decades is a hard case to make to the people paying the bill.
There is one project already built partly for Connecticut. Revolution Wind, off Rhode Island, is contracted to send the state about 304 megawatts at last public report, though it ran into a federal stop-work order in 2025 that ended up in court. So even the capacity Connecticut thought it had counted on has not had a smooth path, which is part of why the empty 804 megawatts feels larger than one canceled project.
The legislative and federal clock
Connecticut's authority to buy offshore wind is set in state law, which allows procurement up to roughly 2,000 megawatts and leaves the timing and cost guardrails to the legislature and DEEP. That means refilling Park City Wind's slot is partly a political decision about how much ratepayer money the state is willing to commit, and when. None of that moves on its own.
The federal side matters just as much. Leasing and permitting of ocean areas runs through the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, and federal policy toward offshore wind turned sharply less friendly in 2025. A state can authorize a purchase, but if the federal permits and the project economics do not line up, the megawatts stay on paper. The honest answer on when the slot refills is that it depends on all three clocks moving together.
Worth watching this month
1. Watch DEEP's offshore wind page for any notice of a new or renewed multistate solicitation, since a fresh round is the only realistic way the 804 megawatts gets refilled.
2. Watch PURA's docket system for filings tied to future procurements or to the Revolution Wind contract, which are routine to open but worth noting when they actually move.
3. Watch the federal courts and BOEM for where the Revolution Wind stop-work dispute lands, because it affects how much built capacity Connecticut can really count on.
4. Watch the Connecticut legislature's 2026 session for any bill that touches the state's offshore wind procurement authority or its cost caps, which would signal whether the political clock is moving.
5. Watch ISO New England's capacity and interconnection reports to see what generation is lining up as older plants retire, since that is the backdrop against which the empty slot matters.
Questions we expect
Short answers, plain languageIs Park City Wind dead for good?
The 2023 contracts are terminated, so the original deal is gone. The lease area still exists, so a future version could be rebid, but at last public report nothing new has been signed.
Does this raise my bill right now?
Not directly. The terminated project was never built, so you are not paying for Park City Wind, but the gap keeps Connecticut leaning on other, often pricier, sources.
Who decides whether a new project goes forward?
DEEP runs the solicitation and the utilities sign the contracts, PURA reviews them, and federal agencies like BOEM permit the ocean work. All of those have to line up before power flows.
Is any offshore wind actually serving Connecticut?
Revolution Wind is built partly for Connecticut, about 304 megawatts at last public report. It hit a federal stop-work order in 2025 that went to court, so some capacity exists but its path has not been settled.
Sources of record
Primary documents only- Connecticut DEEP, Offshore Wind State agency page for the solicitations that would refill the slot; government source. portal.ct.gov/deep/energy/offshore-wind
- Connecticut PURA State regulator that reviews and approves the utility power contracts and holds the related dockets; government source. portal.ct.gov/pura
- ISO New England Regional grid operator; shows what generation is actually connected and lining up across New England. www.iso-ne.com
- U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Renewable Energy Federal agency that leases ocean areas and permits offshore wind; government source for project status. www.boem.gov/renewable-energy
- Park City Wind (Avangrid) Developer's own page on the project and its history; company source. www.parkcitywind.com
- Revolution Wind (Orsted) Developer page for the project that currently contracts power to Connecticut; company source. revolutionwind.com