Dive Brief:

• Vineyard Wind submitted a bid Thursday for a 1,200 MW farm off of Long Island as part of the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority's (NYSERDA) request for proposals to procure 800 MW or more of offshore wind resources.
• NYSERDA received 18 bids, submitted by Vineyard Wind and three other companies, with projects up to 1,200 MW, according to NYSERDA Communications Director Kate Muller. "The response to this solicitation underscores New York’s undisputed place as a national clean energy leader," she said in a statement.
• Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo set a goal last fall of 9,000 MW offshore wind by 2035. NYSERDA expects to issue award notifications in the spring and execute the contract or contracts this summer.

Dive Insight:

If constructed, Vineyard Wind's 1,200 MW offshore wind project, titled Liberty Wind, would be the largest in the United States. Vineyard Wind, a joint venture of Avangrid Renewables and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, is currently building the first utility-scale U.S. offshore wind project.

Other bidders included Equinor, formerly known as Statoil, Bay State Wind, a joint venture of Orsted and Eversource Energy, and Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind, a joint venture of EDF Renewables North America and Shell New Energies US. Mayflower Wind Energy, a joint venture of Shell New Energies and EDPR Offshore Wind North America, had submitted its intent to propose but did not file a bid by the Thursday deadline.

NYSERDA was unable to specify capacity proposals for the projects, indicating only that they went as high as 1,200 MW.

However, Equinor said in a statement the 80,000-acre lease it secured in December 2016 in the New York Bight has a potential capacity for 2 GW of renewable power. Equinor estimated its proposed project, Empire Wind, could generate around $1 billion in savings by reducing the state's wholesale energy costs.

Vineyard Wind's proposal includes three different size options: 400 MW, 800 MW and 1,200 MW, the latter of which is "the most cost-effective option for New York ratepayers," the company said in a statement. The project is expected to be out of sight from any New York shoreline, placed 85 miles away from the state shore.

Bay State Wind's proposal is also expected to be "virtually unnoticeable to Long Island residents and beach goers," placed more than 30 miles east of Montauk Point, according to a press statement. Orsted and Eversource have also entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with Con Edison Transmission, the state's largest transmission developer, regarding the development of offshore wind transmission facilities.

EDF Renewables was not immediately available for comment.

New York announced in August a plan to study European offshore wind transmission models to benefit from advances made on the other side of the Atlantic, where utility-scale offshore wind is a reality and not a work-in-progress. In 2017, Europe had nearly 16 GW of offshore wind capacity. The study will be led by the New York Power Authority in collaboration with NYSERDA and other stakeholders.

New York's "strong maritime workforce and port infrastructure assets" will be key to the growth of the offshore wind industry, Equinor said.