New York Breaks Ground For State’s First Offshore Wind Farm

On Friday, Governor Kathy Hochul of New York announced the beginning of construction on the state’s first-ever offshore wind project.

The South Fork Wind Project, developed by energy provider Eversource and Danish power company Ørsted, will consist of 12 turbines, each with blades longer than the Statue of Liberty’s height. 

This comes as part of a US$500 million investment into offshore wind projects, which will also see the building of four other offshore wind plants. It’s hoped that this will be able to contribute 4,300MW of energy to the state’s daily power profile, per The Motley Fool. 

South Fork Wind will generate around 130MW of power, which is enough for 70,000 homes, according to a press release from the Governor’s office. Clean energy will be directly delivered to the grid in the Town of East Hampton. 

“South Fork Wind will eliminate up to six million tons of carbon emissions over the next 25 years benefiting not only the Empire State, but our nation as a whole,” Governor Hochul declared at the announcement. 

Six million tons of carbon being removed is equivalent to eradicating some 60,000 cars off roads annually. 

She also noted that “hundreds of good-paying jobs” would be created upon its completion, which will help to encourage economic growth as the region recovers from the throes of COVID-19. 

“The harsh impacts and costly realities of climate change are all too familiar on Long Island, but today as we break ground on New York’s first offshore wind project we are delivering on the promise of a cleaner, greener path forward that will benefit generations to come,” Governor Hochul said.

The South Fork Wind Project is scheduled to become operational by the closing of 2023.

[via The Motley Fool and New York State, image via South Fork Wind]