New York Governor Calls for Approval of 90MW South Fork OWF

January 11, 2017

New York State Governor Andrew M. Cuomo yesterday called on the Long Island Power Authority (LIPA) to approve Deepwater Wind’s South Fork offshore wind farm.

LIPA has indicated that contract negotiations are close to final, and the 90MW project will be voted a meeting on 25 January. In his State of the State address, Governor Cuomo called on LIPA to approve the offshore wind farm as the first step toward developing an area that can host up to 1,000MW of offshore wind power.

The Long Island Power Authority was expected to approve the 15-turbine offshore wind farm at a meeting scheduled for 20 July. However, the meeting was put off after its partner agency NYSERDA (New York State Energy and Research Development Authority) filed a request for postponement to align the proposed project with New York’s Offshore Wind Master Plan and the state’s Clean Energy Standard.

Following the release of the master plan’s blueprint, LIPA and Deepwater Wind began negotiations on the proposal.

In December, New York labor unions, civic and environmental organizations and elected officials hosted a rally outside of LIPA to show their support for what is to be the nation’s largest offshore wind farm ahead of the vote on the project that was expected to take place at the end of 2016.

Deepwater ONE – South Fork project represents the first phase of a regional offshore wind farm Deepwater Wind proposes to develop some 30 miles (approx. 48km) southeast of Montauk, New York. The developer said the proposal has been made in response to PSEG-Long Island’s request for new local energy resources serving the South Fork.

To complement the wind farm, Deepwater Wind plans to build two new battery energy storage facilities, which will consist of lithium-ion battery technology designed and installed by General Electric.

Construction of Deepwater ONE – South Fork could begin as early as 2019, with commercial operations by 2022.

The company is behind the first offshore wind farm in America, the Block Island Wind Farm, which is now operational.

Furthermore, in November 2016, Deepwater Wind announced plans to construct a 120MW offshore wind farm, the Skipjack wind farm, some 17 nautical miles northeast of Ocean City, Maryland. The company has secured the rights to acquire the site’s federal lease, subject to regulatory approval.

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