Offshore

Wind at their backs: Vineyard Wind 1, Empire Wind hit key milestones

Wind at their backs: Vineyard Wind 1, Empire Wind hit key milestones
A GE Haliade-X Turbine Stands in the Vineyard Wind 1 Project Area 15 Miles South of Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts. Photo (Credit: Worldview Films)

Two U.S. offshore wind projects have hit key milestones this week – Avangrid has powered up the first five turbines at its Vineyard Wind 1 project offshore New England, and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) approved the Construction and Operations Plan for Equinor’s Empire Wind project.

Vineyard Wind 1

Vineyard Wind 1, the first large-scale offshore wind project in the United States, is now providing approximately 68 MW to the New England grid. Once fully operational, Vineyard Wind 1 will deliver 806 MW.

In early January, Vineyard Wind delivered approximately five MW of power from one turbine to the grid. Following that milestone, the project has provided power from each of the first five turbines intermittently, as it ramped up its initial operations. Currently, the project has installed nine turbines and is in the process of installing the 10th, with preparations underway to transport the 11th turbine to the offshore project site. Additional power will be delivered to the grid sequentially, with each turbine starting production once it completes the commissioning process.

The power from the project interconnects to the New England grid in Barnstable, transmitted by underground cables that connect to a substation further inland on Cape Cod. Once completed, the project will consist of 62 wind turbines.

Empire Wind 1

With the permitting action by BOEM secured, 810-MW Empire Wind 1 is on track to begin construction in its federal lease area off the southern coast of Long Island later this year and could deliver first power to New Yorkers by 2026. In addition, construction to transform the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal into a hub for offshore wind could begin as early as this spring.

Empire Wind has recently received several federal approvals. Last week, it received its Clean Air Act permit from the Environmental Protection Agency. Earlier this week, it received approval from the NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service in accordance with the Marine Mammal Protection Act. Empire Wind 1 is currently bidding into New York’s fourth offshore wind solicitation.

Gone with the wind? Tracking sunken U.S. offshore wind projects

In January, Equinor and BP decided to terminate the Empire Wind 2 project, citing inflation, interest rates, and supply chain disruptions. The Northeastern U.S. offshore project promised a potential generative capacity of 1,260 MW.

The project was already on the chopping block after the New York State Public Service Commission denied petitions filed by a group of developers and a state renewable energy trade association seeking billions of dollars in additional funding from consumers for four proposed offshore wind projects and 86 land-based renewable projects.

In October, developers who filed the petition, including subsidiaries of Orsted, Equinor, and BP, said that they were reviewing the Commission’s decision before reassessing their offshore projects, like Orsted’s 924-MW Sunrise Wind, Equinor/bp’s 816-MW Empire Wind 1, 1,260-MW Empire Wind 2 and 1,230-MW Beacon Wind.