Previous Bidders Resubmit New Offshore Wind Proposal in New York

September 10, 2024, by Adnan Memija

Community Offshore Wind and Vineyard Offshore have submitted a proposal to the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) to develop the Community Offshore Wind and Excelsior Wind projects, which were cancelled in April this year, in response to the state’s fifth offshore wind solicitation.

Community Offshore Wind, a joint venture between RWE and National Grid Ventures (NGV), and Excelsior Wind were among the three offshore wind projects NYSERDA selected in the state’s third offshore wind solicitation round in October 2023. The third project, also cancelled, was Attentive Energy One, developed by TotalEnergies, Rise Light & Power.

In April this year, NYSERDA said it cancelled the three offshore wind projects due to ”technical and commercial complexities between provisional awardees and their partners”.

Community Offshore Wind and Vineyard Offshore are both submitting a new proposal in the state’s fifth offshore wind solicitation to develop the projects.

The proposed Community Offshore Wind project would be developed in the New York Bight lease area that RWE and NGV secured in 2022, which has a capacity of up to 3 GW of offshore wind energy.

According to the developer, the project will directly put nearly 700 people to work and drive approximately USD 3 billion in economic activity.

The proposal includes a commitment to invest up to USD 250 million in New York’s workers and communities. If awarded a contract in the latest offshore wind solicitation, Community Offshore Wind said it will invest heavily in wraparound services for workers, job training programmes, STEM education, and technical assistance for small businesses.

“Offshore wind is necessary to meet rising energy demand and enable New York’s economic growth, and our project’s investments will create good-paying union jobs and help build an offshore wind supply chain that benefits the region”, said Doug Perkins, President and Project Director of Community Offshore Wind.

The new proposal also includes funding for conservation and fisheries support programmes.

Vineyard Offshore submitted a new proposal to NYSERDA to develop the 1,350 MW Excelsior Wind offshore wind project.

Located 24 miles from the nearest shoreline, the wind farm would deliver enough electricity to power more than 700,000 New York homes.

Vineyard Offshore said that Excelsior Wind will improve air quality and public health outcomes, reduce negative environmental impacts, and avoid nearly 1.2 million metric tons of CO2 emissions annually from the New York ISO grid each year – equal to taking 268,000 cars off the road.

The project will also generate more than 5,000 GWh of renewable energy annually once it reaches commercial operation in 2031, according to the developer.

Vineyard Offshore also commits USD 50 million to support diversity, inclusion, and environmental responsibility in New York’s offshore wind sector, with USD 39 million allocated for workforce development and Minority-Women Business Enterprise/Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Businesses (MWBE/SDVOB) upskilling.

An additional USD 11 million is planned to be devoted to environmental, fishery, and habitat initiatives.

NYSERDA launched the state’s fifth offshore wind solicitation in July this year. The state aims to reveal the chosen projects in November, with contract signing anticipated by the first quarter of 2025.