Go big or go home - This New York port is getting ready for massive offshore wind farms
Bigger is better, at least when it comes to offshore wind. And New York State is taking that to the bank as it continues to outpace its neighbors in its quest to become the nation’s leader in offshore wind development.
New York’s recent announcement to contract with Equinor and incoming strategic partner bp for a combined 2,490 MW from the Empire Wind 2 and Beacon Wind 1 projects, along with the 816 MW Empire Wind 1 farm, will translate into a whopping 3.3 GW of wind power--the largest procurement of renewable energy by a state in U.S. history.
The wind projects will mean major port and supply chain investments, with New York already securing commitments from companies to manufacture wind turbine components within the state.
Two of the state's major ports will be transformed into large-scale offshore wind industrial facilities that will position New York as an offshore wind powerhouse: An offshore wind turbine staging facility will be established at the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal, while the nation's first offshore wind tower-manufacturing facility will rise at the Port of Albany.
Port infrastructure projects like the NYS Offshore Wind Port initiative are poised to capture millions in investments and create much-needed clean energy jobs in a sluggish COVID-19 economy. The private development project, located on the east side of the Hudson River just south of the Port of Albany, is slated to become a manufacturing offshore wind hub, with massive acreage ready for development, and an anticipated expansion that will bring the project area site to more than 200 acres.
“We are still in discussions with various parties in and around and close to this development,” Joe Van De Loo, NYS Offshore Wind Port CEO, told NPM. “Our feeling is that either directly or indirectly, given the scope of the award in New York and what's going to be required, that in all likelihood we’re going to see significant activity on both sides of the river here. Now in our expanded footprint, our first phase has 170 acres available, so that probably rivals anything in the Northeast to Mid-Atlantic. We’re anticipating that we’re going to be able to support the very aggressive plan that New York State has and other needs that may arise where the general offshore wind requirements for the Northeast and the East Coast need a home.”
New York is well on its way to hitting its goal of 9,000 MW of offshore wind energy by 2035. With the latest awards, the state now has five offshore wind projects in active development – the largest offshore wind pipeline in the nation totaling more than 4,300 MW and representing nearly 50 percent of the capacity needed to meet its clean energy targets.
“This is the largest project in the U.S. right now, and presumably the state is slated to develop at least five more megawatts by 2030--and the Governor is talking about expanding that,” Van De Loo said. “In New York, where we have a very large demand, and we have a Governor and Legislature that are committed to making the move to renewables, a major portion of that is going to be offshore. Turbines are getting bigger; they've grown substantially. So, the opportunity to expand what can be delivered by offshore wind, as well as the cost because they can do it more efficiently with larger turbines, makes it very competitive.”
As the pipeline of U.S. offshore wind projects continues to expand, a robust supply chain via investments in a local workforce, infrastructure and technology will be critical to meeting states' ramped up offshore wind targets.
“The manufacturing requirements for offshore wind need as much land as they can get to accommodate their initial needs, and possible further expansion as offshore wind manufacturing requirements and the supply chain expand over the next number of years,” Van De Loo said. “The buzz word is you can't have too much land to accommodate offshore wind, so we’re looking at land that requires a larger footprint for manufacturing facilities and for storage inventory, as well as steel fabrication that requires steel to come in either by rail or barge. And we have both. The nature of the fabrication items is such that they’re large and they need to be fabricated close to the water so they can easily move to barge, and then for delivery to the Metropolitan Area and the wind farms off the East Coast.”
State contracts are expected to be finalized within the next 30 to 60 days, according to Van De Loo.
As part of its three offshore projects, Equinor has proposed using gravity-based foundations--large concrete structures that will be floated out to the wind farms and then sunk to the ocean floor. These newer foundations, which measure approximately 100 feet in diameter at their base, will replace the more commonly used monopiles, which are driven beneath the seabed floor. The wind developer has proposed fabricating the foundations at or near the Port of Albany.
Although Equinor currently boasts the largest offshore wind footprint in the state, Orsted is close at its heels. The wind developer's 880 MW Sunrise Wind farm, slated for commercial operation by 2024, along with its 130 MW South Fork Wind project, will add more than 1,000 MW to the state’s offshore wind energy trove.
“Orsted didn't get a piece of the pie, but they still have 800-plus MW,” Van De Loo said. “3,300 is massive, and 800 is small only by comparison, not objectively. Orsted has committed to manufacturing secondary metal and steel items, which are not small, to be done here in the Capital Region, so that will need a home here as well. Everyone is focused on Equinor understandably, but Orsted also has a substantial project that has certain supply chain commitments here in New York State. Between the 3,300 MW and 800 MW, there's almost 4,200 MW that's got to be developed for New York State. That’s a lot of wind.”