August deadline for NY offshore

Offshore wind developers interested in bidding for a 33,000-hectare lease area off New York State have until 5 August to notify regulators.

Qualification packages must be submitted to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management by the end of a 60-day comment period, according to a proposed sale notice published today in the Federal Register.

Seven companies have already qualified and do not need to reaffirm their interest: a NYPA-LIPA-ConEd group, Beautiful Earth Partners, Deepwater Wind, EDF, Fishermen’s Energy, Energy Management Inc and Sea Breeze Energy.

The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) last week said it will also participate in the auction.

As part of its pre-development work, NYSERDA plans to conduct environmental studies, resource assessment and site characterization.

The agency said it will then package this work with a power purchase mechanism and select a project developer through a competitive process.

This strategy would minimize project risk and provide developers certainty to secure financing, maximizing competition and ultimately lowering project costs for consumers, said NYSERDA.

BOEM hopes to hold an auction by the end of the year.

The proposed lease area starts about 11 miles south of Long Island. It is based on a 700MW proposal using 3.6MW turbines by the NYPA group in 2011.

“The standard turbine now produces more on the same footprint so we believe those numbers are conservative,” said Interior Secretary Sally Jewell.

BOEM estimates the capacity could be “materially more” than 700MW based on current technology, said Jewell.

The US has so far auctioned off more than a million acres in federal waters, granting commercial lease rights off Maryland, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Virginia.

However offtake mechanisms have so far failed to emerge in most of those markets.

BOEM director Abigail Ross Hopper said New York is a “unique opportunity” for commercial development with both the state and New York City embracing renewable energy and offshore wind.

“Creating a market for this technology is critically important,” said Hopper. “New York is a great opportunity to continue to move forward.”

Image: foundations being installed at Block Island, the USA’s first offshore wind farm (Deepwater Wind)