Eversource finally found a buyer for two wind farms. Now it’s looking to sell its water business.

A generator and its blades were prepared to head to the open ocean for the South Fork Wind farm from State Pier in New London, Conn., late last year.

Eversource Energy has completed its protracted quest to find a buyer for two offshore wind farm projects by inking a $1.1 billion deal to sell its 50-percent stake in the projects to Global Infrastructure Partners.

Just as Eversource chief executive Joe Nolan finalized his plan to leave the offshore wind business, he announced another big move this week: The New England utility is putting its Aquarion water business, which serves roughly 240,000 customers and employs about 350 people across three states, up for sale as well to raise cash and pay down debt.

But first, Eversource will try to exit offshore wind: New York-based investment firm GIP has agreed to buy Eversource’s stake in two projects — one that’s almost complete and another still in development — planned for the waters roughly between Block Island and Martha’s Vineyard. Eversource, New England’s largest utility, previously reached a deal to sell its share of another nearby proposal.

Together, these divestitures represent an end to Eversource’s money-losing return to developing and owning power plants. Eversource had hoped to capitalize on the growing interest in spurring the offshore wind industry to life, to help reduce carbon emissions. But after getting burned by rapidly escalating costs, Eversource is now retrenching to focus on its core businesses of delivering electricity and natural gas to homes and businesses.

Eversource’s newly announced deal with GIP involves 50-percent stakes in the 132-megawatt South Fork project that will provide enough power for 70,000 homes when it’s completed within the next few weeks, and the 704-megawatt Revolution Wind project, which has financing lined up but has not yet started construction. Eversource will get $1.1 billion from GIP when the deal closes in mid-2024, but may still be on the hook for additional cost overruns.

Eversource previously reached an agreement to sell its 50-percent stake in a third wind farm proposal, the 924-megawatt Sunrise Wind, to Ørsted, Eversource’s joint venture partner in all three projects.

Both businesses — offshore wind and water — are relatively recent additions to Eversource’s portfolio. Eversource first teamed up with Ørsted, the Danish company then known as DONG Energy, in 2016 in a joint venture to develop an area south of New England for wind power. Then, the next year, the utility reached a deal to acquire Aquarion, New England’s largest investor-owned water utility.

Unfortunately for Eversource, the offshore wind venture turned out to be a bad bet. The nascent offshore wind industry, which relies on state-orchestrated contracts for financing, suffered significantly from cost overruns related to interest rate hikes and supply chain disruptions during the past two years. The Eversource-Ørsted venture’s first project, South Fork, avoided much of this inflationary pressure. The venture’s more recent Revolution Wind and Sunrise Wind projects, both still in the development phase, weren’t as lucky.

In total, Eversource reported this week nearly $2 billion in after-tax impairments for 2023 to write off its losses in its offshore wind ventures, primarily with Revolution and Sunrise.

In a call with analysts on Wednesday, Nolan said Eversource got into the offshore wind business to take advantage of state mandates for offshore wind energy procurement at the time, as well as the belief that offshore wind could reduce New England’s reliance on natural gas and its volatile prices.

However, Nolan said, the offshore wind venture ran aground because of the COVID-19 pandemic, supply chain disruptions, rising interest rates, and the uncertain availability of installation vessels and turbine foundations. As a result, Eversource hired investment bank Goldman Sachs in 2022 to help it get out of the business.

The drawn-out sale process has weighed on Eversource’s stock: Shares in Eversource plunged some 26 percent in 2023, compared to a 10 percent decline for an index of utility stocks in the S&P 500. Another factor in the poor stock performance: Eversource’s fight with Connecticut’s Public Utilities Regulatory Authority over Aquarion rates in that state. Nearly one year ago, that agency rejected a rate increase request, and instead required a rate reduction. Eversource is challenging the ruling in court.

On his call with analysts on Wednesday, Nolan tried to make the case that the water business will be easier to sell than the wind business, in part because the negotiations don’t involve a joint venture. Selling Aquarion, Nolan promised, will be nowhere near as complex.

Investors seemed somewhat encouraged that Eversource is finding stability: Its share price rose 5 percent on Wednesday, to $57, after the news broke of the GIP deal and the Aquarion sale. But the stock remains a far cry from the $80 range where it was trading only one year ago.