Foundations of South Fork wind farm off of Long Island now complete
WAINSCOTT, N.Y. - Installation of 13 foundations for the nation's first major offshore wind farm is now complete off the coast of Long Island.
It's named South Fork. It will be the first of five wind farms in the works. The project site is located roughly 35 miles east of Montauk.
Twelve wind turbines and a wind substation will be constructed at the site. Installation of the turbines is expected to begin later this summer and into the fall. Meanwhile, work continues at the site, including the installation of cables to connect the wind turbines to the offshore substation.
It's all part of the biggest dive into offshore wind in the nation - a first of many.
- Related: New York to launch South Fork off of Long Island, first major offshore wind farm in U.S., this year
"Offshore wind is a really time-tested technology at this point. It has a well over a 30-year track record. There are over 5,000 turbines spinning around the globe. We have a magnificent wind resource, but it's a tremendous resource that only needs to be tapped," Jennifer Garvey, the head of New York market for Orsted Americas, said back in April.
New York is pivoting to green energy in a big way, and that takes a big stage. So big, components for the first one are being built in Rhode Island by clean energy developer Orsted Americas and the New England-based utility Eversource.
Their renewable power will be transmitted by the cable buried on the ocean floor.
"The cable itself is about the size of a dinner plate. We bring it ashore through a process that is called horizontal directional drilling. So it basically allows us to bore a hole very deep beneath the road and the beach, and then pull the cable through so we don't have to touch the beach," Garvey said.
“My first night without the earth under me.”
— South Fork Wind (@SouthForkWind) August 4, 2023
Tag along as Austin Seamount from the #BuildingSouthFork team makes his first-ever helicopter commute to work at the wind farm’s new offshore substation. pic.twitter.com/ZN94LX6Gxw
New York's first five wind farms will power 2.5 million homes within five years. Its goal is to produce all electricity with zero emissions by 2040.
"Right now, Long Island is powered about 80% by fossil fuels. And when we go to 2040 it will be 0% for New York. Off shore wind will probably provide 25% of the state's electricity within the next 10 to 15 years. So it's a massive, renewable clean source of energy at affordable prices. And it's located right near where all the electricity demand is," CEO of LIPA Tom Falcone said back in April.
"We need to transition downstate from fossil fuels to renewables. And that's a great challenge for New York, because we can't really build anything on the land because there isn't land. So we have to share the ocean," said Adrienne Esposito from Citizens Campaign for the Environment.