America’s offshore wind industry made several significant advances in recent weeks, notably highlighted by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) issuing two Record of Decisions (RODs) to begin construction: the Eversource and Ørsted Sunrise Wind offshore wind energy project and Avangrid’s New England Wind offshore wind project (formerly Vineyard Wind South). The federal government has now approved construction of eight commercial projects with a production capacity of between 10.2 GW and 11.3 GW.
These developments came on the heels of BOEM commencing environmental reviews for the Vineyard Northeast and Atlantic Shores North projects, designation of a final wind energy area in the Gulf of Maine, and proposal of a new offshore wind lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico.
About Sunrise Wind
The Sunrise Wind project will have a total capacity of 924-megawatt (MW) of clean, renewable energy that BOEM estimates could power more than 320,000 homes per year. The project will support more than 800 direct jobs each year during the construction phase and about 300 jobs annually during the operations phase. The lease area is located approximately 16.4 nautical miles (nm) south of Martha’s Vineyard, Mass., approximately 26.5 nm east of Montauk, N.Y., and approximately 14.5 nm from Block Island, R.I. A map of the area can be found on BOEM’s website.
In response to comments from government partners, key stakeholders, and the public, and after considering project feasibility, BOEM selected a preferred alternative that includes fewer wind turbine generators than proposed by Sunrise Wind. This decision aims to accommodate geotechnical feasibility of the project, reduce impacts to benthic habitat and Atlantic cod, and meet the energy needs of New York, Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
Invaluable feedback on the project’s potential environmental impacts was received through nation-to-nation consultations with Tribes, input from federal, state and local agencies, and from public meetings and comments. The Record of Decision includes measures aimed at avoiding, minimizing and mitigating the potential impacts that may result from the construction and operation of the project. These measures include a commitment by Sunrise Wind LLC to establishing fishery mitigation funds to compensate commercial and for-hire recreational fishers for any losses directly arising from the project.
More information on Sunrise Wind is available through the links below:
Located approximately 30 miles east of Montauk, N.Y., Sunrise Wind is expected to be the country’s largest offshore wind farm upon completion, generating enough clean energy to power nearly 600,000 New York homes.
Sunrise Wind will help New York achieve its mandate of 70 percent renewable energy by 2030, while accelerating the state’s growing offshore wind workforce and supply chain. Sunrise Wind will bring $700 million of investment to Suffolk County and create 800 direct jobs and thousands of indirect jobs in the state. The project is anticipated to be operational in 2026.
“These milestones achieved by Ørsted and Eversource on the heels of South Fork Wind entering full operation demonstrate New York’s leadership in building the U.S. offshore wind industry with Sunrise Wind and future projects on their way to generating clean wind energy to power the grid,” said Doreen M. Harris, President and CEO at New York State Energy Research and Development Authority. “As the onshore supply chain work moves forward, we will continue to see the economic investments in communities from the Capital Region to Long Island come to fruition in the form of good paying jobs and community benefits that are a critical part of our clean energy transition.”
New York State recently selected Sunrise Wind to negotiate a 25-year contract to provide clean reliable energy to the state. The project is finalizing agreements with New York’s energy agency, New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), on this Offshore Wind Renewable Energy Certificates (OREC) contract.
“New York is already home to the trailblazing South Fork Wind project, and with Sunrise Wind we will build on that foundation, broadening the economic benefits of offshore wind while delivering far more clean renewable power,” said David Hardy, Group EVP and CEO Americas at Ørsted.
“We are poised and ready to start constructing the transmission system to connect Sunrise Wind’s clean power to the New York electric grid,” said Joe Nolan, Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer of Eversource Energy. “It’s a momentous infrastructure project, to be built by local contractors and the men and women of New York’s building trades and other labor unions. We promised to put New Yorkers to work building the energy of the future, and now we’re ready to deliver on that promise.”
Sunrise Wind is making significant investments in the state’s offshore wind workforce and supply chain, including:
- A record $200 million offshore wind supply chain award to Long Island-based contractor Haugland Energy Group LLC, which will create more than 400 jobs for New York union workers to install the underground duct bank system for Sunrise Wind’s onshore transmission line in Brookhaven, in Suffolk County.
- $86 million supply chain contract with Riggs Distler & Company, Inc., bringing construction and steel manufacturing work to Capital Region and Western New York companies supporting the construction of advanced foundation components for wind turbines at the Port of Coeymans. That contract is creating 230 family-sustaining jobs.
- Supporting the development of New York’s National Offshore Wind Training Center on Long Island with a $10 million investment.
- Advancing the first offshore wind project in America to use high-voltage direct current transmission technology.
- Investing $5 million in a research partnership with Stony Brook University.
- Establishing an operations and maintenance hub in East Setauket and harbor facility in Port Jefferson to support wind farm operations and the long-term associated operations and maintenance jobs.
- Completed a host community agreement with the Town of Brookhaven.
BOEM’s issuance of the Record of Decision formally concludes its National Environmental Policy Act review process and precedes the anticipated approval of Sunrise Wind’s Construction and Operations Plan (COP), expected this summer.
As previously announced, Ørsted has agreed to acquire Eversource’s 50 percent ownership share in Sunrise Wind, becoming the project’s sole owner, subject to signing of an OREC contract with NYSERDA, finalization of acquisition agreements, COP approval, and other relevant regulatory approvals. Eversource will remain contracted to lead the project’s onshore construction.
About New England Wind (formerly Vineyard Wind South)
The New England Wind project is expected to generate up to 2,600 megawatts of electricity, enough to power more than 900,000 homes with clean renewable energy. The project is situated approximately 20 nautical miles (nm) south of Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, and about 24 nm southwest of Nantucket, Massachusetts. Park City Wind, LLC proposed a two-phased project plan comprising up to 129 wind turbine generators (WTGs), with up to five offshore export cables transmitting electricity to onshore transmission systems in the Town of Barnstable and Bristol County, Massachusetts.
On Feb. 26, 2024, BOEM announced the final Environmental Impact Statement (Final EIS) for the proposed New England Wind project, which analyzes the potential environmental impacts of the activities outlined in the project’s construction and operations plan and considers reasonable alternatives. During a 60-day public comment period, BOEM hosted three virtual public meetings to gather feedback on the Draft EIS from Tribal Nations, members of the public, commercial fishing interests, and other ocean stakeholders.
More information on the “Notice of Availability of a Joint Record of Decision for the New England Wind Project and the New England Wind Offshore Export Cable Project” is available through the links below:
The ROD represents a significant permitting milestone that brings the lease area closer to full federal approval for construction, with the Construction and Operations Plan (COP) Approval anticipated for July 2024. Issuance of the ROD by the Department of the Interior comes after years of robust stakeholder engagement with Tribal Nations, members of local residential and fishing communities, and other ocean users. New England Wind, consisting of the New England Wind 1 and New England Wind 2 projects, has the potential to create thousands of jobs and provide enough clean, reliable energy to power nearly 1 million homes and businesses in the region. As the leading offshore wind developer in the United States, Avangrid is spearheading the development of the first-in-the-nation Vineyard Wind 1 project, currently under construction and delivering clean, reliable power to 30,000 homes and businesses in Massachusetts.
On March 27, 2024, Avangrid submitted multiple proposals for the New England Wind projects to the Massachusetts-Rhode Island-Connecticut Multi-State Procurement for Offshore Wind. The states are anticipated to announce selected projects from the competitive procurement in August 2024.
The ROD comes after years of analysis of potential environmental impacts of Avangrid’s construction, operation, and conceptual decommissioning plans by BOEM. Stakeholder engagement for this critical environmental review included three virtual public meetings hosted by BOEM to solicit additional feedback on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) published in late December 2023 and consideration of over 750 comments received from the public. BOEM responded to all comments received in the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS), recently published on February 26, 2024. The DEIS, FEIS, and ROD are available on BOEM’s website.
New England Wind 1 is an exceptionally advanced and shovel-ready project in federal lease area OCS-A 0534, roughly 30 miles south of Barnstable, Massachusetts and making landfall under the Craigville Beach parking lot. The project will border Vineyard Wind 1 to the south.
New England Wind 1 offers extraordinary certainty and viability. The ROD builds on the project’s complete state, regional, and local permitting, a signed host community agreement with the Town of Barnstable, and a Project Labor Agreement with the Massachusetts Building Trades. If selected in the current competitive procurement, the project can begin construction as soon as next year and achieve commercial operations before the end of the decade, helping achieve ambitious 2030 state climate targets set by the New England states.
New England Wind 1 also offers transformational economic opportunities for the region, including catalyzing a new staging and assembly port in Salem; bringing an offshore wind davit crane manufacturer to New Bedford, Massachusetts; locating Operations and Maintenance facilities in Bridgeport, Connecticut and New Bedford; and delivering an offshore wind training hub with Survival Systems USA at the Port of Davisville in North Kingstown, Rhode Island.
The New England Wind lease area is projected to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by nearly 4 million US tons, or the equivalent of taking approximately 700,000 cars off the road each year during the lifespan of the project. Combined, the projects will create up to 9,200 full-time equivalent jobs and bring $8 billion in direct investment to the region.
In February 2024, Avangrid announced that it has powered up the first five turbines for the nation-leading Vineyard Wind 1 project, delivering clean energy to 30,000 homes and businesses in Massachusetts. The first large-scale offshore wind project in the United States, Vineyard Wind 1 will be the largest renewable energy facility in New England once fully operational, delivering 806 Megawatts – enough clean electricity to power 400,000 homes and businesses in the Commonwealth.
Vineyard Wind began offshore construction in late 2022, achieved steel-in-the-water in June, and completed the nation’s first offshore substation in July. Construction flows through the New Bedford Marine Commerce Terminal. In July 2021, Vineyard Wind signed the first Project Labor Agreement (PLA) for an offshore wind project in the United States, which outlined the creation of 500 union jobs through the project. In December 2023, project shareholders announced that Vineyard Wind 1 has delivered nearly double of its commitment through the PLA by creating 937 union jobs through two years of construction.
An 806-megawatt project located 15 miles off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard, Vineyard Wind will generate electricity for more than 400,000 homes and businesses in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, create 3,600 Full Time Equivalent (FTE) job years, save customers $1.4 billion over the first 20 years of operation, and is expected to reduce carbon emissions by more than 1.6 million metric tons per year, the equivalent of taking 325,000 cars off the road annually.
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About Ørsted
A global clean energy leader, Ørsted develops, constructs, and operates offshore and land-based wind farms, solar farms, energy storage facilities, and bioenergy plants. Ørsted was the first energy company in the world to have its science-based net-zero emissions target validated by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) and is recognized as the world’s most sustainable energy developer in the Corporate Knights Global 100 index.
In the United States, the company has approximately 700 employees and a portfolio of clean energy assets and partnerships that includes offshore wind energy, land-based wind energy, solar, battery storage and e-fuels. Ørsted is a U.S. leader in offshore wind energy with approximately 3 gigawatts in development and operates America’s first offshore wind farm, located off the coast of Block Island. Ørsted has a total U.S. land-based capacity of 5 gigawatts across wind, solar, storage technologies and e-fuels. To learn more about the Ørsted U.S. business, visit us.orsted.com or follow the company on X (@OrstedUS), Instagram, and Facebook.
About Eversource
Eversource (NYSE: ES), celebrated as a national leader for its corporate citizenship, is the #1 energy company in Newsweek’s list of America’s Most Responsible Companies for 2024 and recognized as a Five-Year Champion, appearing in every edition of the list. Eversource transmits and delivers electricity and natural gas and supplies water to approximately 4.4 million customers in Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Hampshire. The #1 energy efficiency provider in the nation, Eversource harnesses the commitment of approximately 9,900 employees across three states to build a single, united company around the mission of safely delivering reliable energy and water with superior customer service. The company is empowering a clean energy future in the Northeast, with nationally recognized energy efficiency solutions and successful programs to integrate new clean energy resources like a first-in-the-nation networked geothermal pilot project, solar, offshore wind, electric vehicles and battery storage, into the electric system. For more information, please visit eversource.com, and follow them on X, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. For more information on our water services, visit aquarionwater.com.
About Avangrid
Avangrid, Inc. (NYSE: AGR) aspires to be the leading sustainable energy company in the United States. Headquartered in Orange, CT with approximately $44 billion in assets and operations in 24 U.S. states, Avangrid has two primary lines of business: networks and renewables. Through its networks business, Avangrid owns and operates eight electric and natural gas utilities, serving more than 3.3 million customers in New York and New England. Through its renewables business, Avangrid owns and operates a portfolio of renewable energy generation facilities across the United States. Avangrid employs approximately 8,000 people and has been recognized by JUST Capital in 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024 as one of the JUST 100 companies – a ranking of America’s best corporate citizens. In 2024, Avangrid ranked first among utilities and 12 overall. The company supports the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goals and was named among the World’s Most Ethical Companies in 2024 for the sixth consecutive year by the Ethisphere Institute. Avangrid is a member of the group of companies controlled by Iberdrola, S.A. For more information, visit www.avangrid.com.
About Iberdrola
Iberdrola is one of the world’s biggest energy companies and a leader in renewables, spearheading the energy transition to a low carbon economy. The group supplies energy to almost 100 million people in dozens of countries. With a focus on renewable energy, smart networks and smart solutions for customers, Iberdrola’s main markets include Europe (Spain, the United Kingdom, Portugal, France, Germany, Italy and Greece), the United States, Brazil, Mexico and Australia. The company is also present in growth markets such as Japan, Taiwan, Ireland, Sweden and Poland, among others.
With a workforce of nearly 40,000 and assets in excess of €141.7 billion, across the world, Iberdrola helps to support 400,000 jobs across its supply chain, with annual procurement of €12.2 billion. A benchmark in the fight against climate change, Iberdrola has invested more than €130 billion over the past two decades to help build a sustainable energy model, based on sound environmental, social and governance (ESG) principles.
