New York’s Largest Offshore Wind Farm Officially Begins Construction

Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-N.Y.) announced this week that construction has begun on Sunrise Wind, New York’s largest offshore wind farm.

Hochul said: “With the commencement of work on Sunrise Wind and the completion of the next wave of offshore wind projects, New York is achieving a huge milestone in the fight against climate change.”

How Electric As reported in this post on June 24, the mature offshore wind project has received the final permit needed to begin construction from the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM).

The Offshore Wind Farm Construction and Operations Plan specifies a one nautical mile spacing between wind turbines, construction methodology requirements for all work in federally jurisdictional ocean waters, and mitigation measures to protect marine habitats and species.

The 924-megawatt (MW) Sunrise Wind will generate enough clean energy to power nearly 600,000 New York City homes. It is located about 30 miles east of Montauk Point on Long Island and is expected to be operational in 2026.

The project was previously a 50-50 partnership between Ørsted and Eversource, but last week Ørsted completed the acquisition of Eversource’s shares for $78 million.

The Sunrise Wind team will now begin work on the onshore transmission system, while offshore construction work will begin later this year at the project site.

The offshore electricity export cable will originate at Smith Point County Park in Brookhaven, New York, and a new converter station and expanded existing substation will be constructed in Holbrook, New York.

New York’s largest offshore wind farm will create 800 direct jobs in New York City and thousands of indirect jobs. John R. Durso, president of the Long Island Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, said, “Hundreds of local union workers and union leaders will have good-paying jobs building Sunrise Wind onshore and offshore. Continuing this project will help fuel our grid and our regional economy.”

Sunrise Wind has finalized agreements with the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) for a 25-year Offshore Wind Renewable Energy Certificate (OREC) contract that will help New York State achieve its 70% renewable energy mandate by 2030.

The project had previously canceled a contract that was part of the first tender to build an offshore wind farm in New York in 2019. Despite this, it managed to sign enforceable power purchase agreements in February this year as part of the fourth tender to build an offshore wind farm in the state.

Read more: The largest American offshore wind farm has just started operating in New York

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