Ørsted and Eversource Propose Major Offshore Wind Farm for New York
NEW YORK — Ørsted and Eversource today announced their joint proposal to build a new offshore wind farm for New York State, with the potential capacity to power more than half a million homes.
The “Sunrise Wind” proposal was submitted to the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) today and has been carefully planned to help achieve Governor Andrew M. Cuomo’s nation-leading offshore wind and renewable energy goals, and to do so with the highest possible levels of public support. Proposed to be located over 30 miles east of Montauk Point, the Sunrise Wind project will be virtually unnoticeable to Long Island residents and beach goers.
Given its unparalleled experience developing offshore wind farms to serve Long Island and other northeastern states, the Sunrise Wind team is uniquely positioned to deliver on NYSERDA’s inaugural offshore wind project. Ørsted is the world’s largest offshore wind developer, having built more than a quarter of the world’s installed offshore wind capacity, and Eversource is New England’s largest energy company. The project owners have also entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with New York’s preeminent transmission developer, Con Edison Transmission, which will support the development of the transmission facilities needed to deliver the offshore wind energy to the electric transmission grid, and have an eventual right to acquire the offshore portion of the transmission facility.
“Governor Andrew Cuomo has set an ambitious goal for New York’s transition to renewable energy sources, Ørsted looks forward to helping New York achieve this critical mission. As the global leader in developing offshore wind farms, we share the vision of a world that runs entirely on green energy,” said Thomas Brostrøm, CEO of Ørsted U.S. Offshore Wind and President of Ørsted North America. “We are confident that Sunrise Wind will not only offer New Yorkers an opportunity to provide national leadership in building a carbon-free energy grid, but also create significant job and economic development opportunities for Long Island and upstate New York.”
“Eversource is proud to partner with Ørsted, which shares in our mission to deliver reliable power to millions of customers, as efficiently as possible and using the most sustainable technologies and methods available,” said Eversource Executive Vice President for Enterprise Energy Strategy and Business Development Lee Olivier. “Governor Cuomo’s aim to reach one hundred percent carbon-free electricity by 2040 is a commendable goal, and Sunrise Wind will play a key role in helping New York reach this tremendous milestone.”
"This project is a vital step in helping to meet our state's ambitious and essential clean energy goals." said Joseph Oates, President and CEO of Con Edison Transmission. "We're excited to be supporting the development of the transmission system that will bring this important resource to New Yorkers."
Sunrise Wind will support Governor Cuomo’s goal of establishing an enduring offshore wind supply chain in New York State, and to help achieve this, the project proposes many economic development and job opportunities, including, but not limited to:
- Committing to entering discussions with New York State unions on one or more Project Labor Agreements for project construction, and to paying prevailing wage;
- Over 900 annual jobs through project development, construction and the first three years of operation; and between 1,500 and 2,000 additional annual jobs spawned by the project during this same timeframe, depending on the final scope of the project, as selected by NYSERDA.
Ørsted, the global leader in offshore wind energy, has pioneered and refined the approach to developing and constructing offshore wind farms since it launched the world’s first offshore wind farm in 1991. Ørsted owns and operates the Block Island Wind Farm, America’s first offshore wind farm, and has the largest development capacity of any wind developer in the U.S., totaling more than 8 gigawatts in seven states. Earlier this year, Ørsted announced a “first-of-its-kind” partnership with the Responsible Offshore Development Alliance (RODA) to improve communications and cooperation with the fishing industry.
About Ørsted
The Ørsted vision is a world that runs entirely on green energy. Ørsted develops, constructs and operates offshore and onshore wind farms, bioenergy plants and innovative waste-to-energy solutions and provides smart energy products to its customers. Headquartered in Denmark, Ørsted employs 6,080 people. Ørsted’s shares are listed on Nasdaq Copenhagen (Orsted). In 2018, the group’s revenue was DKK 76.9 billion (EUR 10.7 billion). For more information on Ørsted, visit orsted.com or follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter.
Ørsted U.S. Offshore Wind delivers clean, renewable energy along the US Eastern seaboard. The company operates Block Island Wind Farm, America’s first offshore wind farm, and has a comprehensive geographic coverage with the largest pipeline of development capacity, totaling over 8GW in seven states. It is jointly headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts and Providence, Rhode Island and employs over 75 people.
About Eversource
Eversource (NYSE: ES) transmits and delivers electricity and natural gas and supplies water to approximately 4 million customers in Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Recognized as the top U.S. utility for its energy efficiency programs by the sustainability advocacy organization Ceres, Eversource harnesses the commitment of about 8,000 employees across three states to build a single, united company around the mission of safely delivering reliable energy and water with superior customer service. For more information, please visit our website (http://www.eversource.com) and follow us on Twitter (@EversourceCorp) and Facebook (facebook.com/EversourceEnergy). For more
information on our water services, visit www.aquarionwater.com.