Offshore construction starts for LIPA wind array
An aerial view of a barge being used to lay a cable from Wainscott Beach in East Hampton that will eventually lead seven miles out into the Atlantic Ocean to the South Fork Wind Farm. Credit: Kevin P. Coughlin / All Island A/Kevin P. Coughlin
Construction for New York's first offshore wind power array has begun in the waters off New England, as LIPA prepares to accept energy from a 12-turbine project by year’s end.
The developer, Denmark-based Orsted, on Thursday said an offshore vessel has begun pounding the first steel foundations into the seabed, with work expected to continue through the summer and fall.
Gov. Kathy Hochul's office said in a statement the development “cements New York as a national hub for the offshore wind industry.” The state plans more than 9,000 megawatts of offshore wind power by 2035, enough to power millions of homes, and has awarded contracts for more than 4,000 megawatts. Wind power is expected to replace fossil-fuel powered plants across the state by 2040.
LIPA customers will pay South Fork Wind $2.013 billion over that period, according to state filings, and LIPA has said average customers across its 1.1 million ratepayer territory will pay around $1.58 more a month when the project is producing energy by year’s end.
WHAT TO KNOW
- Construction for New York's first offshore wind power array has begun in the waters off New England, as LIPA prepares to accept energy from a 12-turbine project by year’s end.
- The developer, Denmark-based Orsted, said an offshore vessel has begun pounding the first steel foundations into the seabed, with work expected to continue through the summer and fall.
- LIPA has said average customers across its 1.1 million ratepayer territory will pay around $1.58 more a month when the project is producing energy by year’s end.
The project is being developed by Orsted and its partner, Eversource, the New England utility that recently announced plans to sell off its interest.
Tom Falcone, chief executive of LIPA, which first contracted with Deepwater Wind for the project in 2017, said the construction milestone “signifies that our efforts are transforming from vision to reality.”
The South Fork Wind Farm was originally launched by Rhode Island-based Deepwater Wind, but was expanded from its original 90 megawatts after Orsted bought the company in 2018.
The South Fork Wind Farm is part of a larger effort by LIPA to bolster power on the South Fork amid rising electric demand. The plan included efforts by an outside contractor to work with customers to reduce energy demand, an effort that fell short of goals, even while LIPA worked to bolster capacity on the South Fork with a $513 million cable and distribution upgrade project that is largely complete.
Orsted on Thursday said the start of construction pushed the project “one giant step closer to meeting our mission to deliver renewable offshore wind energy to Long Island’s East End.”
The project had opponents, and some continue to fight. Simon Kinsella, who owns a home where the cable makes land in Wainscott, has filed numerous court actions against the 4.1-mile land-cable portion of the project, and filed a June 1 brief with the U.S. Supreme Court.
The filing requests an emergency writ of injunction, alleging the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management “knowingly falsified its review of an offshore wind farm, concealing contamination harmful to human health,” among other things. BOEM didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Kinsella has said he doesn’t oppose wind energy or the project, but opposes the route through Wainscott, and worries that digging along the land-cable route exposed prior contaminants. State and local officials, and South Fork Wind, have denied the claim. The land cable and 56-mile sea cable have already been installed, and work has begun on a substation in East Hampton.
The Long Island Commerical Fishing Association, based in Montauk, has also been a vocal opponent, objecting to the loss of crucial fishing grounds and that fishermen won't be compensated for it.
Mark Harrington, a Newsday reporter since 1999, covers energy, wineries, Indian affairs and fisheries.
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