In the first of six State of the State addresses, Governor Cuomo spoke to a Long Island audience, saying that New York is committed to building 2.4 GW of offshore wind power by 2030 – enough to power 1.25 million homes.
The governor also pledged his support for the state’s first and the nation’s largest offshore wind project off the east end of Long Island, reports Long Island.com.
The governor’s announcement comes just one day after his announcement that the Indian Point nuclear facility in Westchester County will close by 2021, and his plans to replace its power with clean energy and low-carbon energy resources. Indian Point has been in the news a number of times in the past for operational, safety and environmental problems.
The proposed 90 MW South Fork project would be situated roughly 30 miles southeast of Montauk, N.Y. The Deepwater Wind proposal has been in the works since July.
The wind farm will likely consist of 15 6 MW Haliade wind turbines, the same turbines that power the Block Island Wind Farm, located 13-miles south of the Rhode Island mainland. Block Island was the nation’s first offshore wind farm. That wind farm became operational on December 12, 2016.
Following the governor’s announcement, the Long Island Power Authority (LIPA) is expected to approve the proposal later this month. The South Fork Offshore Wind Project would supply electricity to 50,000 South Fork homes, and would through the use of an underground cable, deliver electricity directly to East Hampton, helping them in their plan to get 100 percent of their energy from clean sources by 2030.
The governor’s 2.4 MW offshore wind projects master-plan would produce projects that could power 1.25 million homes. And the plan is also part of an ambitious goal in meeting the governor’s Clean Energy Standard to have 50 percent of New York’s electricity be powered with renewable sources by 2030, according to North American Wind Power.
