New Energy World™
New Energy World™ embraces the whole energy industry as it connects and converges to address the decarbonisation challenge. It covers progress being made across the industry, from the dynamics under way to reduce emissions in oil and gas, through improvements to the efficiency of energy conversion and use, to cutting-edge initiatives in renewable and low-carbon technologies.
New York’s first offshore wind project starts construction
16/2/2022
News
Construction has started on South Fork Wind, being jointly developed by Ørsted and US energy transmission firm Eversource off the coast of Long Island.
The new offshore wind contract marks a milestone in US plans for $500mn investment in offshore wind ports, manufacturing and supply chain infrastructure, targeted to develop 9 GW of offshore wind by 2035.
Launching the project Governor Kathy Hochul said: ‘South Fork Wind will eliminate 6mn tonnes of carbon emissions over the next 25 years benefiting not only the Empire State, but our nation as a whole.’
South Fork Wind will be one of the first commercial-scale offshore wind projects to commence in North America and is expected to become operational in late-2023. The project will be located about 55 km east of Montauk Point, and feature 12 Siemens-Gamesa 11 MW turbines.
Under the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, New York is mandated to achieve zero emission electricity by 2040, including 70% renewable energy generation by 2030, in a move towards carbon neutrality (reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 85% from 1990 levels by 2050).
The offshore wind initiative builds on New York’s investment in an ambitious programme costing over $33bn for 102 large-scale renewable energy and transmission projects across the state, including $6.8bn to reduce building emissions, $1.8bn to scale-up solar, more than $1bn for clean transportation, and over $1.6bn in NY Green Bank commitments. These investments were estimated to support nearly 158,000 jobs in the state’s clean energy sector in 2020.
Nearby Block Island offshore wind farm – the first to be built in the US and operational since 2016 – exports most of its output to the State of Rhode Island.
