The primary working South Fork Wind farm turbine stands east of Montauk Level, N.Y., on Dec. 7, 2023. South Fork Wind, America’s first commercial-scale offshore wind farm, is formally open.
Julia Nikhinson/AP
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Julia Nikhinson/AP
The primary working South Fork Wind farm turbine stands east of Montauk Level, N.Y., on Dec. 7, 2023. South Fork Wind, America’s first commercial-scale offshore wind farm, is formally open.
Julia Nikhinson/AP
America’s first commercial-scale offshore wind farm is formally open, a long-awaited second that helps pave the best way for a succession of enormous wind farms. Danish wind power developer Ørsted and the utility Eversource constructed a 12-turbine wind farm known as South Fork Wind 35 miles (56 kilometers) east of Montauk Level, New York. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul went to Lengthy Island Thursday to announce that the generators are delivering clear energy to the native electrical grid, flipping an enormous gentle swap to “activate the long run.” Inside Secretary Deb Haaland was additionally readily available. Reaching business scale is a turning level for the business, however what’s subsequent? Specialists say the nation wants a significant buildout of one of these clear electrical energy to handle local weather change.
Offshore wind is central to each nationwide and state plans to transition to a carbon-free electrical energy system. The Biden administration has authorized six commercial-scale offshore wind power tasks, and auctioned lease areas for offshore wind for the primary break day the Pacific and Gulf of Mexico coasts. New York picked two extra tasks final month to energy greater than 1 million properties. That is only the start, Hochul mentioned. She mentioned the completion of South Fork exhibits that New York will aggressively pursue local weather change options to avoid wasting future generations from a world that in any other case may very well be harmful. South Fork can generate 132 megawatts of offshore wind power to energy greater than 70,000 properties. “It is nice to be first, we need to be certain we’re not the final. That is why we’re displaying different states how it may be carried out, why we’re shifting ahead, on to different tasks,” Hochul informed The Related Press in an unique interview earlier than the announcement.
“That is the date and the time that individuals will look again within the historical past of our nation and say, ‘That is when it modified,'” Hochul added. South Fork will generate greater than 4 occasions the facility of a five-turbine pilot challenge developed earlier off the coast of Rhode Island, and in contrast to that backed check challenge, was developed after Ørsted and Eversource have been chosen in a aggressive bidding course of to provide energy to Lengthy Island. Ørsted CEO Mads Nipper known as the opening a significant milestone that proves massive offshore wind farms might be constructed, each in the USA and in different international locations with little or no offshore wind power at the moment.
An excellent bigger offshore wind farm is coming With South Fork completed, Ørsted and Eversource are turning their consideration to the work they’ll do offshore starting this spring for a wind farm greater than 5 occasions its dimension. Revolution Wind might be Rhode Island and Connecticut’s first commercial-scale offshore wind farm, able to powering greater than 350,000 properties subsequent yr. The positioning the place the cable will join in Rhode Island is already beneath building.
In New York, the state mentioned final month it might negotiate a contract with Ørsted and Eversource for an excellent bigger wind farm, Dawn Wind, to energy 600,000 properties. The Norwegian firm Equinor was picked for its Empire Wind 1 challenge to energy greater than 500,000 New York properties. Each purpose to begin offering energy in 2026. After years of planning and improvement, 2024 is a yr of motion— constructing tasks that can ship sizeable quantities of fresh energy to the grid, mentioned David Hardy, group govt vp and CEO Americas at Ørsted. Ørsted, previously DONG Power, for Danish Oil and Pure Gasoline, began aggressively constructing wind farms off the coast of Denmark, the U.Okay. and Germany in 2008. The corporate bought off the North Sea oil and gasoline property on which it had constructed its identification to deal with clear power, turning into Ørsted. It is now one of many largest wind energy builders. The business has confronted challenges The primary U.S. offshore wind farm was presupposed to be a challenge off the coast of Massachusetts referred to as Cape Wind. A Massachusetts developer proposed the challenge in 2001. It failed after years of native opposition and litigation. Generators started spinning off Rhode Island’s Block Island as a pilot challenge in 2016. However with simply 5 of them, it isn’t a commercial-scale wind farm.
Final yr introduced challenges for the nascent U.S. offshore wind business, as Ørsted and different builders canceled tasks within the Northeast that they mentioned have been not financially possible. Excessive inflation, provide chain disruptions and the rising price of capital and constructing supplies have been making tasks costlier as builders have been attempting to get the primary massive U.S. offshore wind farms opened. Trade leaders anticipate 2024 to be a greater yr, as rates of interest come down and states ask for extra offshore wind to satisfy their local weather objectives.
The nation’s second massive offshore wind farm, Winery Wind, is predicted to open later this yr off the coast of Massachusetts, too. The primary 5 generators are offering energy for about 30,000 properties and companies in Massachusetts. When all 62 generators are spinning, they’re going to generate sufficient electrical energy for 400,000 properties and companies. Avangrid and Copenhagen Infrastructure Companions are the joint house owners of that challenge. The Biden administration desires sufficient offshore wind power to energy 10 million properties by 2030. Inside Secretary Haaland mentioned that “America’s clear power transition shouldn’t be a dream for a distant future— it is occurring proper right here and proper now.”