Construction Starts On Offshore Wind Farm That Will Provide Energy To LIPA

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
February 12, 2022

Construction of New York’s first offshore wind project kicked off last week. The South Fork Wind project was selected under a 2015 Long Island Power Authority (LIPA) request for proposals to address growing power needs on the east end of Long Island.

“In 2017, the forward-thinking approach of the LIPA Board of Trustees led to the approval of the South Fork Wind project at a time when there were no other power purchase agreements for offshore wind in the country,” said LIPA CEO Thomas Falcone. “As the first offshore wind farm in New York, South Fork Wind is the beginning of a new industry for our region that will be vital to New York meeting its goal of a zero-carbon electric grid by 2040.”

The start of construction was recognized at an event attended by New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, alongside Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland and other elected officials.

The project will be located about 35 miles east of Montauk Point and its 12 Siemens-Gamesa 11 MW turbines will generate approximately 130 megawatts of power.

Its transmission system will deliver clean energy directly to the electric grid in the Town of East Hampton.

The construction milestone follows the approval by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s (BOEM) last month of the project’s Construction and Operations Plan (COP).

The COP outlines the project’s one nautical mile turbine spacing, the requirements on the construction methodology for all work occurring in federal ocean waters, and mitigation measures to protect marine habitats and species.

BOEM’s final approval of the COP follows the agency’s November 2021 issuance of the Record of Decision, which concluded the thorough BOEM-led environmental review of the project.

New York State has five offshore wind projects in active development, the largest portfolio in the nation. This current portfolio totals more than 4,300 megawatts (MW).

Achieving the State’s 9,000 MW by 2035 goal will generate enough offshore wind energy to power approximately 30 percent of New York State’s electricity needs.