The first of 12 turbines began delivering power Wednesday to New York’s Long Island Power Authority (LIPA) grid, marking the first utility-scale wind generation in U.S. federal waters, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced.
“New York's nation-leading efforts to generate reliable, renewable clean energy have reached a major milestone,” said Hochul. “South Fork Wind will power thousands of homes, create good-paying union jobs and demonstrate to all that offshore wind is a viable resource New York can harness for generations to come.”
Joint venture partners Ørsted and Eversource recently installed two of the turbines 35 miles east of Montauk, N.Y., and expect to have all turbines installed by early 2024 with a nameplate maximum capacity of 130 megawatts. Like neighboring Northeast states, New York elected officials and energy planners have ambitious plans for renewable energy, including 9 gigawatts of offshore wind power capacity by 2035.
South Fork is one of the earliest offshore projects planned by New York, first approved by the LIPA board in 2017 with construction beginning in February 2022 with an onshore export cable system that links the project to the LIPA energy grid. The first monopile foundation was installed in June 2 by Van Oord’s Netherlands-flagged offshore installation vessel Aeolus.
Long Island-based contractor Haugland Energy Group LLC (an affiliate of Haugland Group LLC), installed the underground duct bank system for South Fork Wind’s onshore transmission line and led the construction of the project’s onshore interconnection facility. LS Cable installed and jointed the onshore cables with support from Long Island’s Elecnor Hawkeye.
“The onshore cable scope of work alone created more than 100 union jobs for Long Island skilled trades workers,” according to the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority. “Roman Stone, also on Long Island, manufactured concrete mattresses to protect the undersea cables, and Ljungstrom, located in western New York, in partnership with Riggs Distler & Company Inc., provided specialized structural steelwork.”
