New York throws support behind offshore wind with three project awards - Reuters.com
New York throws support behind offshore wind with three project awards | Reuters
New York throws support behind offshore wind with three project awards
Oct 24 (Reuters) - New York officials on Tuesday said the state has awarded conditional contracts to three offshore wind projects as part of a massive renewable energy procurement that will provide 12% of the state's power needs in 2030.
The announcement, which the state billed as the nation's largest ever investment in offshore wind, comes less than two weeks after New York regulators rejected requests by three offshore wind developers to renegotiate their contracts because of soaring costs. In response, Governor Kathy Hochul pledged to support renewable energy projects to meet the state's climate change goals.
The new awards, to projects under development by France's TotalEnergies (TTEF.PA), Germany's RWE (RWEG.DE), Britain's National Grid (NG.L), and Denmark's Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP), are still under negotiation, the state said.
The more than 4 gigawatts of offshore wind power the projects will be capable of generating is the largest share of 6.4 GW of renewable energy procurement the state unveiled. Collectively, the offshore and onshore wind, solar, and hydroelectric projects will be able to power 2.6 million New York homes, the state said.
"Today, we are taking action to keep New York's climate goals within reach, demonstrating to the nation how to recalibrate in the wake of global economic challenges while driving us toward a greener and more prosperous future for generations to come," Hochul said in a statement.
The projects include Attentive Energy One, a facility being developed by TotalEnergies, Rise Light & Power and Corio Generation; Community Offshore Wind, a joint venture between RWE and National Grid; and Excelsior Wind, which is under development by CIP.
All three projects are expected to start generating power in 2030 and will add about $2.93 per month to customer bills over their lifetime.
New York is also committing $300 million to the development of offshore wind component manufacturing facilities planned by GE Vernova (GE.N).
New York Offshore Wind Alliance Director Fred Zalcman said the announcement "will go a long way towards instilling confidence in a market that has recently faced tremendous headwinds."
Reporting by Nichola Groom Editing by Bill Berkrot
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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.