BOEM Completes Environmental Review of Offshore Wind Project Off New York - gCaptain
BOEM Completes Environmental Review of Offshore Wind Project Off New York
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The Empire Wind 1 and 2 and Beacon Wind 1 projects located off New York State. Illustration: Equinor
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has completed its environmental review of the proposed Empire Wind offshore wind projects off New York, which BOEM estimates could power more than 700,000 homes with clean renewable energy.
“BOEM is doing its part to meet the Administration’s ambitious energy goals – while remaining diligent in our efforts to avoid, minimize, and mitigate impacts to ocean users and the marine environment,” said BOEM Director Elizabeth Klein. “We value the feedback we have received from Tribal Nations, local community members, commercial fishing interests, and other ocean users in our process.”
Empire Wind LLC is a 50-50 partnership between Equinor and bp, with Equinor serving as the operator throughout the development, construction, and operations phases. The company plans to build two offshore wind projects, Empire Wind 1 and Empire Wind 2, in its lease area located approximately 12 nautical miles (nm) south of Long Island, New York, and around 16.9 nm east of Long Branch, New Jersey.
The projects will include the construction of up to 147 wind turbines, along with up to two offshore substations and two cable routes connecting to the onshore electrical grid on Long Island. The projects will be electrically isolated and independent from one another. Together, they are expected to generate up to 2,076 megawatts of clean, renewable energy.
“The Empire Wind projects will help grow a domestic offshore wind supply chain through domestic investment that will create thousands of good-paying American jobs and spearhead the revitalization of the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal,” said Josh Kaplowitz, Vice President for Offshore Wind at the American Clean Power Association (ACP). “This FEIS is the culmination of years of rigorous environmental reviews and the incorporation of extensive feedback from the public and is a testament to the offshore wind industry’s ability to meet our nation’s growing energy needs in a responsible manner.”
As part of Biden-Harris administration’s goal of deploying 30 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2030, BOEM expects to complete environmental reviews for at least 16 commercial construction and operation plans (COP) for offshore wind energy facilities by 2025, which would represent more than 22 GW of clean energy for the nation.
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Related Knowledge Center: Offshore wind energy
Over the next decade, U.S. offshore wind power is expected to grow from a single 30-megawatt wind farm off Rhode Island to more than 2,000 MW of capacity along the Atlantic Seaboard. There are contracts for wind power off the coasts of Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Maryland, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Virginia.
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory has estimated the United States has over 4,000 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind potential, enough to power the country four times over.
The growth in part being spurred by state solicitations, including in New York, where then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) set a commitment of 9,000 MW of offshore wind by 2035, and in Connecticut, where in June 2021, Gov. Ned Lamont (D) signed legislation authorizing the construction of 2,000 MW of offshore wind by 2030.
The offshore development is also being driven by an investment tax credit set to end in December 2019 and is equal to 12 percent of expenditures. U.S. Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Tom Carper (D-Del.) have introduced a bill to extend the tax credit for up to eight years.
The Interior Department has held eight competitive lease sales that resulted in 15 offshore wind leases over 1.7 million acres that has the potential for 21 GW of capacity. In February 2022, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management completed a bidding process that realized $4.37 billion for 488,000 acres across six lease areas in federal waters off New York and New Jersey.
Projects have also been proposed off the Southeast coast, off California and Hawaii, and for the Great Lakes.