The 130-MW South Fork Wind wind farm offshore New York has installed its first turbine, Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office announced Monday.
The turbine is the first installed in the state, and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority said in a release that it anticipates South Fork Wind’s construction timeline is on track to make it the first completed utility-scale wind farm in the federal waters of the U.S.
“Hundreds of U.S. workers and three Northeast ports have supported South Fork Wind’s construction, helping to stand up the foundations of a new domestic supply chain that’s creating local union jobs across the Northeast,” said NYSERDA. “All 12 turbines are expected to be installed by the end of 2023 or early 2024.”
South Fork Wind’s turbines are sourced from wind engineering company Siemens Gamesa, according to the release. The farm is owned by Ørsted and is being developed by the company in an equal partnership with Eversource. Construction began in February 2022.
The farm is located 35 miles off Montauk and will bring power to Long Island, which the state hopes will “address a growing reliability challenge for Long Island’s electrical grid,” said NYSERDA.
New York has a mandatory goal to develop 9 GW of offshore wind by 2035. South Fork Wind is one of five projects in progress, and is the smallest of that group.
The other projects are the 1,230-MW Beacon Wind, the 816-MW Empire Wind 1, the 1,260-MW Empire Wind 2, and the 924-MW Sunrise Wind.
Hochul recently drew criticism from offshore wind groups after vetoing an offshore wind transmission planning bill due to a provision for the takeover of parkland in Long Beach to build transmission for Empire Wind 2.
The American Clean Power Association warned that the veto had the state coming “dangerously close to serving a death knell” for the financially troubled offshore wind industry. Just days later, Ørsted canceled two planned wind farms off the coast of New Jersey due to financial turmoil.
Hochul followed the veto by announcing solicitation awards for three new offshore wind projects on Oct. 25, and said the state was advancing the development of two offshore wind blade and nacelle manufacturing facilities – the first in the U.S.
On Monday, Hochul said that the South Fork Wind milestone “marks a momentous step forward” for the industry.
