State issues request for 2,000 MW of offshore wind power
This is a rendering of a proposed offshore wind port facility on South Brooklyn. Credit: Equinor
New York State on Wednesday issued the latest in a series of requests for offshore wind power projects to transition the grid away from fossil-fuel plants, while saying it would favor designs that made use of old power-plant infrastructure in the downstate region.
The plan to solicit bids for at least 2,000 megawatts of additional wind power for the state, enough to supply some 1.5 million homes, could be particularly favorable to projects that seek to repurpose old fossil-fuel power stations around Long Island and New York City that are slated for retirement in the next two decades.
Newsday on Monday reported that National Grid Ventures and its partner RWE Renewables, which have secured the largest offshore wind lease in the New York Bight area off the coasts of Long Island and New Jersey, plan to develop proposals that use facilities such as the National Grid plants in Island Park and Northport, among others, that offer large-scale grid interconnection points, among other advantages.
Rise Light & Power, which owns the large Ravenswood power station in Long Island City, also said it is working with a partner to use the facility to connect future offshore-wind energy while hosting battery storage units on site, another preference by the state in the new solicitation.
The state already has awarded five offshore projects in two prior solicitations encompassing more than 4,300 megawatts of wind energy, slated to reach the grid before the end of the decade or sooner. Two such projects, by Norway-based Equinor and partner BP, would start just 14 miles from Jones Beach, and make grid connections in Brooklyn and Long Beach.
The state plans to have a total of 9,000 megawatts of offshore wind in place by 2030, as it moves to fully phase out carbon-emitting power sources such as natural-gas and oil-burning plants by 2040. LIPA has a wind-farm project slated to feed power to the South Fork in coming years.
The new NYSERDA solicitation would make use of the state’s already approved $500 million outlay for port infrastructure, manufacturing and supply-chain infrastructure. It also would be first to link to an innovative new offshore "meshed-ready" transmission system for greater reliability, flexibility and cost savings, the state said.
The new solicitation also will emphasize in-state manufacturing for components of the wind projects, similar to an already planned $350 million wind-tower manufacturing facility at the Port of Albany, while setting a minimum requirement for American iron and steel purchases for the projects. Project bids are due by Dec. 22.
Mark Harrington, a Newsday reporter since 1999, covers energy, wineries, Indian affairs and fisheries.
