South Fork Wind becomes first US utility-scale offshore wind farm to complete construction

Dive Brief:

All 12 turbines at the offshore 130-MW South Fork Wind project have been installed and are delivering power to the Long Island grid, New York Governor Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, said in a March 14 release.
In addition, on Friday, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management announced it has finalized the designation of a two million acre wind energy area in the Gulf of Maine, advancing the agency’s efforts to develop offshore wind there.
BOEM also published a notice of intent today to prepare an environmental impact statement for the proposed Atlantic Shores North project offshore New Jersey.

Dive Insight:

South Fork Wind, a joint Eversource and Ørsted project, began construction in early 2022 and installed its first monopile foundation in June. The project isn’t fully complete, as commissioning is still ongoing, but it is the first utility-scale offshore wind farm to complete construction in the U.S.

“Completion of the first utility-scale offshore wind farm in the United States is an important national milestone, a significant step towards achieving New York State’s ambitious climate goals, and essential for delivering clean energy directly to New Yorkers,” said Jessica Ottney Mahar, policy and strategy director at The Nature Conservancy in New York.

New York has set a goal of deploying 9 GW of offshore wind by 2035. Most projects still under construction off the state’s shores are larger than South Fork Wind — in February, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority selected the 810-MW Empire Wind 1 and 924-MW Sunrise Wind projects as part of the state’s fourth offshore wind solicitation.

“With more projects in the pipeline, this is just the beginning of New York’s offshore wind future and I look forward to continued partnership with the Biden Administration and local leaders to build a clean and resilient energy grid,” Hochul said.

The Gulf of Maine wind energy area finalized by BOEM on Friday could potentially support up to 32 GW of energy, “surpassing current state goals for offshore wind energy in the Gulf of Maine: 10 GW for Massachusetts and 3 GW for Maine,” the agency said.

BOEM is seeking public comment through April 17 about “important environmental issues” and the “identification of reasonable alternatives” to be considered by the environmental assessment.

The agency is also seeking public comment through May 2 about the proposed Atlantic Shores project offshore New Jersey. BOEM officially announced today its intent to complete an environmental impact statement for the project’s construction and operations plan.

“Federal agencies, Tribes, State and local governments, interested parties, and the public are requested to comment on the scope of this EIS, significant issues that should be addressed, and alternatives that should be considered,” BOEM said in its Federal Register notice.

Atlantic Shores has proposed the installation of 157 wind turbines, eight offshore substations and two potential export cable corridors that would make landfall in New Jersey, with one potentially making landfall in New York City.