These canceled New York offshore wind farms totaling 1.7 GW just officially made a comeback - Electrek.co
These canceled New York offshore wind farms totaling 1.7 GW just officially made a comeback
Equinor’s Empire Wind 1 and Eversource and Ørsted’s Sunrise Wind previously canceled their offshore wind contracts with New York, but now they’re back.
Governor Kathy Hochul today (D-NY) announced that New York State conditionally awarded the 810 megawatt (MW) Empire Wind 1 and the 924 MW Sunrise Wind from its fourth offshore wind solicitation.
These two projects had previously canceled contracts made in 2019 as part of New York’s first offshore wind solicitation but reached viable power purchase agreements in this latest round.
New York Offshore Wind Alliance director Fred Zalcman said, “With today’s announcement, the state has deftly navigated the economic headwinds of the post-COVID global economy and has decisively put the US offshore wind industry on a firmer and more inclusive footing while protecting consumer interests.”
Since they’re “shovel-ready” projects, Empire Wind I, located 15 miles off New York’s shore, and Sunrise Wind, located more than 30 miles east of the eastern point of Long Island, have already completed most federal and state permitting milestones. Empire Wind I received final approval of its Construction and Operations plan from the US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) last week.
Together, they’ll provide enough clean power for 1 million New York homes and deliver around 10% of New York City and Long Island’s electricity. They’ll reduce greenhouse gas emissions by over 3 million metric tons annually, the equivalent annual emissions of over 740,000 cars.
Empire Wind 1 and Sunrise Wind will invest $2 billion in economic development across New York and create 800 near-term construction jobs. They’ll be supported by the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal assembly and staging port (rendering pictured above), which is expected to create 400 construction jobs this year.
Equinor, Eversource, and Ørsted have also committed to an additional $135 million for grid infrastructure on Long Island and $200 million in other transmission-related investments.
Sunrise Wind is scheduled to come online in 2026, and Empire Wind in 2027.
Sam Salustro, vice president of strategic communication at the offshore wind nonprofit Oceantic Network, said:
These new contracts integrate the knowledge gained over the past several years and exemplify a new phase for the industry defined by a better understanding of project finances.
New York State has set a goal to achieve the development of 9,000 megawatts of offshore wind energy by 2035.
Read more: Equinor, bp just scrapped their 1.2 GW Empire Wind 2 offshore wind farm
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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.