New York Selects Winning Bidders in Nation’s Largest Offshore Wind Agreement

Photo: Teun van den Dries / Shutterstock

New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo has executed the United States’ largest offshore wind agreement, announcing the winning bidders in the state’s first large-scale comprehensive offshore wind solicitation that will generate a combined 1,700 Megawatts of renewable for the state.

Winning bidders were Equinor US Holdings, Inc. and Bay State Wind LLC, a joint venture of Ørsted A/S and Eversource Energy, for their Empire Wind and Sunrise Wind development projects, respectively.

Combined, the projects will total 1,700MW, enough energy to power more than one million homes and support more than 1,600 jobs with a combined economy activity of $3.2 billion statewide, according to Governor Cuomo’s office.

The wind farms will help New York achieve its goal of 9,000 megawatts of offshore wind by 2035.

Equinor’s 816MW Empire Wind project will be developed with 60-80 wind turbines with an installed capacity of more than 10 MW each, making them among the largest offshore wind turbines in the world. Equinor says the project’s total investments will be approximately $3 billion with an expected start up in late 2024.

Equinor says it will also invest over $60 million in port upgrades in New York to support future offshore wind projects, in addition to at least $4.5M for community benefits and workforce development.

The award comes about two years after Equinor secured an 80,000-acre lease area in the New York Bight.

With commissioning scheduled in 2024, the 880MW Sunrise Wind project will be located 30 miles east of Montauk Point, Long Island, adjacent to Ørsted’s South Fork and Revolution Wind projects. An operations and maintenance hub will be developed in Port Jefferson, Long Island.

“Sunrise Wind will contribute significantly to achieving governor Cuomo’s bold and ambitious goal for New York’s transition to renewable energy by supplying more than half a million New York homes with wind power. The offshore wind industry offers great opportunities for long-term industrial development, and Sunrise Wind will bring skilled jobs to the state during construction and throughout its operational lifetime.”

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