Four wind developers submit proposals for offshore wind farms off Long Island

Proposals are redacted and prices for electricity won't be known for months

ALBANY  — Four wind developers, offering a menu of 25 configurations, have applied to the state’s fifth “solicitation’’ or request for proposals to build offshore wind farms off the coast of Long Island.

But many of the details aren’t public, since the proposals are redacted — heavily in some instances — and the price that these wind farms are seeking for their power won’t be known until next year when contracts for winning bids are finalized.

“The final prices associated with awarded projects will be made available once contract(s) have been fully executed, which is expected to be early in 2025,” Deanna Cohen, spokeswoman for the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority said in an email. NYSERDA is the organization responsible for putting out the solicitation, similar to an offer for bids from firms that want to build wind farms and enter long term contracts to sell the electricity to the state’s power grid.
 
Nor was it immediately clear if these latest proposals would lead to more activity at Capital Region ports including the Port of Albany and Port of Coeymans.

All of the proposals are to supply wind-powered electricity to New York City and surrounding suburbs. Port facilities in the city are also being put to use in these projects. But both the Albany and Coeymans ports are seen as key staging areas for building components. Workers at Coeymans are currently building components for Orsted’s Sunrise Wind project, another wind farm being built off of Long Island.

The solicitations could be seen as a reset of efforts to promote offshore wind, which hit a setback last year when wind developers unsuccessfully tried to rebid the prices they were seeking in light of sharply rising construction costs.

The groups applying in this fifth solicitation are Attentive Energy; Community Offshore Wind, a joint venture of RWE and National Grid; Orsted’s Long Island Wind, and Vineyard Wind.

Orsted has already completed one project, starting up the South Fork Wind farm in March. They say that’s the nation’s first completed commercial-scale offshore wind farm, generating 132 Megawatts, or enough to power about 70,000 homes.

Wind farms off the Long Island coast are part of the state’s plan to achieve a carbon-free electricity grid by 2040. Those plans, mandated in the 2019 Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, have come into question lately amid doubts that the state’s economy can completely wean itself off of fossil fuels such as oil and gas in the next 16 years.

The applicants are able to redact portions of their proposals that involve proprietary information or trade secrets. 

For more information, go to https://www.nyserda.ny.gov/All-Programs/Offshore-Wind/Focus-Areas/Offshore-Wind-Solicitations/2024-Solicitation