The South Fork Wind offshore project has installed its first monopile foundation off the coast of New York.
“New York is leading offshore wind development and building a green economy that will support hundreds of good-paying jobs and benefit generations to come,” Gov. Kathy Hochul said. “This progress on building the first utility-scale offshore wind project in the country cements New York as a national hub for the offshore wind industry.”
Once completed, the wind farm will generate enough renewable energy to power roughly 70,000 homes helping New York meet its ambitious Climate Act goals. Hundreds of U.S. workers and three Northeast ports will support South Fork Wind’s construction through late fall helping to stand up a new domestic supply chain that’s creating hundreds of local union jobs across the Northeast.
First approved by the Long Island Power Authority (LIPA) in 2017, South Fork Wind was selected under a 2015 request for proposals to address growing energy needs on the east end of Long Island.
Group EVP and CEO Americas at Ørsted David Hardy said, “South Fork Wind is now one giant step closer to meeting our mission to deliver renewable offshore wind energy to Long Island’s East End. As we reach a milestone nearly a decade in the making, we’re reflective of all those who have long championed this project in the East Hampton community, and beyond. The bold leadership of the Biden-Harris and Hochul administrations is putting New York and the nation on a path to a cleaner future. Thanks to American ingenuity, South Fork Wind is jumpstarting a new U.S. jobs engine and tackling climate change head-on.”
With today’s milestone, South Fork Wind officially enters its wind turbine installation phase, the final construction period on the 12-turbine, 130-MW project. South Fork Wind launched in February 2022, beginning with the onshore export cable system. The project is one of five offshore wind projects New York State has in active development, the largest portfolio in the nation. This current portfolio totals more than 4,300 MW and will power more than 2.4 million New York homes, and it is expected to bring a combined economic impact of $12.1 billion to the state. The projects are also expected to create more than 6,800 jobs in project development, component manufacturing, installation, and operations and maintenance. Achieving the State’s 9 GW by 2035 goal will generate enough offshore wind energy to power approximately 30% of New York State’s electricity needs, equivalent to nearly 6 million New York State homes, and spur approximately 10,000 jobs.
New York local union members, including ironworkers, pile drivers, divers, operating engineers, electricians, laborers, and other members of the region’s building trades are supporting the work offshore. Ørsted and Eversource in 2022 signed the National Offshore Wind Agreement with North America’s Building Trades Unions, the labor organization representing more than three million skilled craft professionals. The partnership includes 15 International Union Presidents and their local affiliates and sets the bar for working conditions and equity, injects hundreds of millions of dollars in middle-class wages into the American economy, creates apprenticeship and career opportunities for communities most impacted by environmental injustice, and ensures projects will be built with the safest and best-trained workers in America. A first-of-its-kind in the United States, the National Offshore Wind Agreement (NOWA) covers all of Ørsted’s contractors and subcontractors that will perform offshore wind farm construction.
During South Fork Wind’s construction period this summer and fall at the project site roughly 35 miles east of Montauk, New York, construction and transport barges, tugboats, crew vessels, and protected special observer monitoring vessels will be active at the offshore construction site. Vessel and crane operators, boat captains and crew, engineers, welders, scientists, protected species observers and dozens of others are involved in this operation.
An offshore installation vessel, Boskalis’s Bokalift 2, is transporting and installing the foundations. South Fork Wind includes the first U.S.-built offshore wind substation. More than 350 U.S. workers across three states supported construction of this South Fork Wind substation, a topside structure that will collect the power produced by wind turbines and connecting it to the grid. New York union workers supported its installation offshore.
Advanced foundation components, built by union workers, will be transported to the site for installation. Finally, the wind farm’s Siemens-Gamesa 11-MW wind turbine generators will be installed.
Once in operation, South Fork Wind will be supported by America’s first offshore wind Service Operations Vessel, as well as U.S.-built crew transfer vessels.
Director of the New York Offshore Wind Alliance Fred Zalcman said, “The installation of the first offshore wind components to serve New York State is the culmination of years of effort from civic leaders, state and federal officials, laborers, and private industry. The South Fork Wind Farm stands as a proof of concept to the significant environmental, economic and social benefits of this resource, and future generations will look back on this monumental event and thank those responsible for the South Fork Wind Farm for their perseverance, creativity, and vision in bringing this seminal project to fruition.”
News item from NYSERDA
Filed Under: News, Offshore wind