Assemb. Thiele yanks support for state's first offshore wind farm

An aerial view in 2016 of the Deepwater Windfarm, 12 miles east off the coast of Montauk Point and 2 miles south of Block Island, R.I. Credit: AllislandAerial.com/Kevin P. Coughlin
An East End lawmaker whose support helped bolster the state’s first planned offshore wind farm, 30 miles from Montauk, has pulled his backing, accusing the developer of a “bait and switch.”
Assemb. Fred Thiele Jr. (I-Sag Harbor), in a statement Thursday, said the sale of developer Deepwater Wind to Danish conglomerate Orsted last year, and Orsted’s subsequent move to expand the project, were the motivating factors in his decision.
“A project originally proposed by an American company to address the growing energy needs of eastern Long Island now is to be part of the portfolio of an international energy giant, whose first decision was a 44 percent increase in the size of the project,” Thiele said. “We are left to imagine what other changes might be made or what other projects might show up on our doorstep in the future.”
An Orsted spokeswoman said the company was "confused" about why Thiele "was such a strong and vocal supporter of the 90-megawatt project, but now opposes the project when it’s capable of producing even more clean energy for his constituents at a lower price.”
A LIPA spokesman declined to comment.
Thiele, in an interview, said his main beef with Orsted was “transparency” — he’d like to see the company’s contract with LIPA, which has been heavily redacted — but he’s also concerned about Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s progressively larger vision for wind energy.
“I’d like to know more about what 9,000 megawatts is going to look like for Long Island,” he said, referring to Cuomo’s recent pledge to hike state wind energy targets to that amount by 2035. He’d previously called for 2,400 megawatts by 2030. “We need to see the big picture,” Thiele said.
The Orsted spokeswoman said the company had requested "multiple times" since October to meet with Thiele, an offer that stands.
The environmental community expressed surprise at Thiele's stance. "I was shocked," said Gordian Raacke, executive director of Renewable Energy Long Island, a green-energy group. "I’ve read through his statement twice now. I hope that some of this can be cleared up."
LIPA board members first approved the project in 2016, heralding it as the first state contract for an offshore wind farm. The 90-megawatt project was to sport 15 turbines.
Last fall, LIPA trustees approved an increase in the output of the facility to 130 megawatts as Orsted announced a $510 million acquisition of Deepwater. Power from the new array will cost average customers up to $1.57 a month, PSEG Long Island said, compared with a previous $1.19 per month.
Observed Raacke: "More capacity into same footprint is a good thing. I don’t know why you’d call it a bait-and-switch."
Thiele also tied his opposition to support for the commercial fishing industry, whose primary industry association has opposed wind energy. “The potential impacts to the fishing industry from offshore wind must be identified, addressed, and avoided,” he said, calling for public release of the Deepwater contract with LIPA.
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