Offshore Wind
As New York this year readies to build the 132-MW South Fork Wind Farm—its first offshore wind project—the state will dedicate $500 million in funding to enable offshore wind manufacturing and supply chain infrastructure. The investment announced by Governor Kathy Hochul as part of New York’s 2022 State of the State plan, is just one of a suite of measures aimed at kickstarting the state’s offshore wind industry.
On Wednesday, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) unveiled plans to launch its third offshore wind procurement in 2022, a measure that could support the construction of 2 GW in new projects. The state’s designated R&D agency also moved to initiate a new “master plan”—Master Plan 2.0: Deep Water—“to unlock the next frontier of offshore wind development.” The state additionally said it would work to identify strategic wind cable corridors and access key points of interconnection of the grid as part of a broader plan to realize an offshore wind transmission network.
New York’s efforts are bolstered by an aggressive mandate under its Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act to achieve a zero-emission electricity sector by 2040, and to source at least 70% of its power generation from renewables by 2030. So far, the state says it has invested $33 billion in 102 large-scale renewable and transmission projects across the state, but it has also ramped up efforts to improve building energy efficiency, establish clean transportation initiatives, and set up a distributed solar sector.
Offshore wind is set to be a major pillar in the state’s climate goals. While the Climate Act calls for the development of 9 GW of offshore wind by 2035, to date, the state has procured five offshore wind projects—a combined 4.3 GW— and is actively developing five ports. Combined 4.3 GW of Offshore Wind Power Under Active Development
NYSERDA, which issues competitive solicitations for offshore wind energy and contracts with offshore wind developers to purchase offshore renewable energy certificates (ORECs), has so far executed contracts with Equinor Wind US for its Empire Wind 1 project and Sunrise Wind (a joint venture of Ørsted A/S and Eversource Energy) for its Sunrise Wind Project. Selected as part of the state’s first offshore wind solicitation in 2018 , the 816-MW Empire Wind 1 is expected to become commercially operational in 2026, while the 880-MW Sunrise Wind may be online in 2025.
NYSERDA selected two other Equinor […]
