Good news, New Yorkers! Your metropolitan state will now host USA’s largest offshore wind farm, which will be massive enough to power over 50,000 homes! The new South Fork Wind Farm will be constructed by Deepwater Wind. It plans to generate over 90 megawatts of renewable electricity through 15 large turbines. The turbines are to be installed 30 miles southeast of Montauk. They will be directly connected to a substation in East Hampton using a 50-mile undersea cable.
This mega project will be USA’s second-ever Wind Farm project, after the 30-megawatt, 5-turbine Block Island farm which began its operations off the coast of Rhode Island about six weeks ago.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said,
“New York leads the nation in pioneering clean energy innovation, and this bold action marks the next step in our unprecedented commitment to offshore wind, as well as our ambitious long-term energy goal of supplying half of all electricity from renewable sources by 2030,”
He added,
“This project will not only provide a new, reliable source of clean energy, but will also create high-paying jobs, continue our efforts to combat climate change and help preserve our environment for current and future generations of New Yorkers.”
Governor of New York pledged in his state address earlier this month to build 2400 megawatts of offshore wind power by 2030, which would be enough to power 1.25 million homes. This $740 million project on the eastern end of Long Island is a stepping stone towards the development of 256-square-mile area that would entail up to 200 wind turbines and generate 1000 megawatts of clean, renewable electricity.
Moreover, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority is also working on an Offshore Wind Master Plan to be revealed this year.
Heather Leibowitz, director of Environment New York, mentioned in a statement,
“Offshore wind needs to be a significant part of the energy mix. It is key to putting the Empire State on a path toward an economy powered entirely by renewable energy. The 90-megawatts of energy produced off east Montauk will get us one step closer to this goal.”
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