Transmission Line to Link Wind Farm Off Coast of Long Island is Approved

by Peter Maloney
APPA News
November 30, 2022

The New York State Public Service Commission earlier this month approved a transmission line that will interconnect to a proposed wind farm off the coast of Long Island to the state’s electrical grid.

The 924-megawatt (MW) wind farm is sited in federal waters and would be the largest offshore wind farm to be connected to New York’s electric grid. The 25-mile transmission line will carry electricity from the proposed Sunrise Wind Farm to an existing substation in Brookhaven in Suffolk County.

The transmission line is a high-voltage, 320-kilovolt, direct current (DC) submarine export cable bundle that would be up to 5.2 miles long and enter New York State territorial waters three nautical miles from land. The transmission line then will transition from an offshore cable to an onshore cable that will travel up to 17.2 miles to an onshore converter station. The transmission line is being built by Sunrise Wind LLC.

The Sunrise wind farm is being developed by a partnership of Ørsted and Eversource with support from Con Edison Transmission and the New York Power Authority, which will assist the development of the transmission facilities needed to deliver the offshore wind energy to the electric transmission grid. The wind farm will be more than 30 miles east of Montauk Point.

Sunrise Wind is entering negotiations with New York State contractors and trade labor organizations on a project labor agreement to cover construction activities for the project and committing to paying prevailing wages.

The developers expect construction to start as early as 2023 with the wind farm entering service by 2025.

The offshore wind project will provide Long Island Power Authority (LIPA) customers with clean, affordable energy, Thomas Falcone, LIPA’s CEO, said in a statement. “Both South Fork Wind and Sunrise Wind are helping to build a new and dynamic offshore wind industry right here on Long Island — an industry that will protect our environment and provide new clean energy jobs.”

The Sunrise wind farm was awarded as part of New York State Energy Research and Development Authority’s (inaugural competitive 2018 offshore wind solicitation.

Construction on the South Fork Wind project, New York’s first offshore wind farm, began in February. The project was selected under a 2015 LIPA request for proposals to address growing power needs on the east end of Long Island.