The New York Power Authority and an LS Power affiliate on June 17 submitted joint proposals to the New York Independent System Operator for the Five Boro Energy Connect, a set of transmission upgrades that could bring up to 8 GW of offshore wind to New York City by 2033, NYPA announced June 21.
The transmission proposals, “are designed to ensure energy resiliency, reduce emissions, and create clean energy jobs while also engaging New Yorkers in the clean energy transition,” NYPA President and CEO Justin Driscoll said in a statement.
The proposals respond to an April solicitation issued by NYISO at the direction of state regulators. The New York Public Service Commission in 2023 concluded that transmission investment was needed to move offshore wind generation to the nation’s most populous city to meet the state’s clean energy goals.
The Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, passed in 2019, requires the state to install 9,000 MW of offshore wind by 2035. The PSC’s order last year required transmission proposals to meet a Jan. 1, 2033, in-service date, with projects capable of interconnecting a minimum of 4,770 MW of offshore wind? with Consolidated Edison’s distribution system.
The proposed projects are primarily submarine, a NYPA spokesperson said. Several proposals were submitted but only one will be selected.
A viability and sufficiency analysis of the proposals is expected to be completed by the end of this year and a final decision on the proposals could be made by the NYISO board of directors in the second quarter of 2025, NYPA said.
“These proposals are cost effective and beneficial for electricity consumers and build upon our past shared success with NYPA in delivering the Central East Energy Connect project in upstate New York on time and on budget,” LS Power CEO Paul Segal said in a statement.
The Central East project was completed in December by NYPA and LS Power Grid New York, the affiliate involved in the Five Boro project, and included a “complex rebuild” of 93 miles of overhead transmission lines and substations across four counties, the parties said.
New York’s development of wind resources has faced recent headwinds. The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority in April announced it would not move ahead with three projects it provisionally awarded in the state’s third offshore wind solicitation, citing “material modifications” to the proposals. Gov. Kathy Hochul, D, subsequently unveiled a ten point action plan for the state’s clean energy industry, including a request for information for its upcoming fifth offshore wind solicitation.
