New York has selected Orsted and Eversource’s 880MW Sunrise Wind and Equinor’s 816MW Empire Wind projects in the state’s first offshore wind solicitation.
Subject to contract signing and Orsted’s and Eversource’s final investment decision, Sunrise is expected to be operational in 2024.
Next steps for the developer partnership include negotiating a 25-year term offshore wind renewable energy certificate (OREC) with New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA).
Sunrise Wind will bring power to Long Island.
Equinor expects to develop its project with 60-80 wind turbines, with an installed capacity of more than 10MW each.
Power will be fed to New York City.
Total investments will be approximately $3bn said Equinor, with an expected start up in late 2024.
Equinor Wind US president Christer af Geijerstam said: “Being selected in this highly competitive field of bidders shows the confidence that New York leadership has in Equinor’s capabilities of developing large offshore energy projects, delivering affordable renewable energy while also providing significant economic benefits locally.
“We are now looking forward to working with our partners throughout New York State to bring this project forward.”
As part of its winning proposal for New York, Sunrise Wind said it will bring economic development by constructing an operations and maintenance hub in Port Jefferson, Long Island, investing in additional port infrastructure upgrades and establishing offshore wind training programmes in New York.
Orsted Offshore chief executive Martin Neubert said: “New York State has set an ambitious goal to be 100% powered by clean energy by 2040.
“We fully share that vision, and we’re proud to bring more than two decades of offshore wind expertise to the state and to be fronting the offshore wind build-out in New York with a combined 1000MW capacity via our South Fork and Sunrise Wind projects.”
NYSERDA CEO Alicia Barton said: “Orsted and Eversource Energy’s Sunrise Wind project will bring tremendous economic development and job creation opportunities to New York, further solidifying our national leadership on pressing environmental and energy issues in support of Governor Cuomo’s nation-leading policies.”
A total of four bids were submitted to NYSERDA for the state’s offshore wind in February.
Vineyard Wind, which lost out with its Liberty Wind bid, said in response: “Liberty Wind put forward a bold proposal that would have made New York home to the largest offshore wind project in the country.
“While we are disappointed in this decision, we appreciate the leadership New York has provided in expanding the offshore wind sector and its ambitious goal of deploying 9000MW of offshore wind power by 2035.
“We remain committed to providing clean energy solutions for New York and look forward to seeking future opportunities in the Empire State.”
The developer’s project proposal included plans for a 400MW, 800MW and 1200MW offshore wind facility, located 137km from the shore.
Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind also submitted a bid as part of a 1.9GW pipeline that it is bidding into solicitations in New York and New Jersey.
The developer said: “Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind is keen to contribute to the transition to reliable, renewable energy for New York.
“While we are disappointed to not have the opportunity to enter into negotiations at this point, we will continue to move the project forward at the same pace. We are pushing ahead with project permitting efforts, as well as actively seeking opportunities to develop a strong local workforce and supply chain for New York.”
Announcing the winners at an event at Fordham Law School in New York City, Governor Andrew Cuomo said New York would invest $270m in manufacturing and port facilities.
“We’ll lead the way in developing the largest source of offshore wind in the USA,” said Cuomo, who also signed into law a ‘Green New Deal’ targeting 100% carbon-free electricity supply by 2040.
Business Network for Offshore Wind chief executive Liz Burdock said: “These historic contracts with Orsted (880MW) and Equinor (816MW) mean that New York is now fully into the offshore wind marketplace and will supercharge the local and regional supply chains of companies that can now seek to become offshore wind industry suppliers.”