Turbine installation vessel for Empire Wind project on its way to Long Island

A wind-turbine installation vessel is on its way from Singapore to the waters off Long Island as Empire Wind developer Equinor moves ahead with construction for a contested project that is already two-thirds complete.

The Maersk-owned vessel Viridis left port in Singapore in March and is expected to arrive in waters off Long Island for sea trials later this year, according to Equinor responses to Newsday questions. It will be aided by tugboats and barges that are under construction in Louisiana and Mississippi, Equinor said.

Foundations and monopiles have already been installed, Equinor said, and are ready to accommodate the 54 turbines, towers and more than 150 blades to be set in place in the waters 14 miles off Jones Beach. The equipment will arrive at South Brooklyn Marine Terminal, the staging grounds for the project, in coming weeks and months. Turbines, Equinor said, "will be subject to tariffs in effect at the time of import," a figure unavailable this week.

Asked if Equinor had been approached by the Trump administration to accept a payment in exchange for suspending its project, as have two other offshore leaseholders, Equinor spokesman David Schoetz would only say, "Our focus is on delivering Empire Wind to help meet New York’s power demand."

Empire Wind is more than 65% complete, Schoetz said, with cabling work around 95% complete and an offshore substation already installed. It will send its 810 megawatts of power to the New York City grid in Brooklyn. 

Citing ongoing litigation, Schoetz declined to say whether Equinor has been in communication with the Trump administration about alleged national security concerns cited by the U.S. Department of the Interior, which were one reason given for a previous stop-work order for the project.

Equinor won a court victory earlier this year after the Trump administration sued on the national security grounds, a case that remains pending. 

Separately, New York State Attorney General Letitia James issued a statement last week saying the state had filed to become an intervenor in support of another wind farm, Sunrise Wind, which is being sued by Green Oceans, Native American tribes and fishermen, among others, to stop the project. The plaintiffs argue the project, if completed, would cause "direct and ongoing injuries to navigation, fishing, cultural resources, and long-standing uses of the waters."

Sunrise Wind, which is being developed by Orsted of Denmark, was also the subject of a Trump administration lawsuit seeking a preliminary injunction to stop it, which was denied. The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, which filed to intervene in the Green Oceans lawsuit, argued that stopping Sunrise Wind would deprive New York of "economic, energy, environmental, and air-quality benefits" if the project were to be canceled.

Meaghan Wims, a spokeswoman for Orsted and Sunrise, declined to comment on the lawsuit.

As for Sunrise, which will deliver its 924 megawatts of power to Long Island at Holbrook, the project off the coast of Rhode Island/Massachusetts is nearly half complete, with the "first five turbines installed and 44 of 84 foundations installed," Wims wrote in an email. 

"The project continues work toward commissioning of first turbines later this year and [full] commercial operations of the project in the second half of 2027," Wims wrote in an email.

Sunrise is expected to power more than 600,000 Long Island homes.

By Mark Harrington

mark.harrington@newsday.comMHarringtonNews

Mark Harrington, a Newsday reporter since 1999, covers energy, wineries, Indian affairs and fisheries.