Denmark offshore, photo by Jim Hodson of Greenpeace

SET’s home state of New York is moving to become a leader in offshore wind power. Both the New York Power Authority (NYPA) and the Long Island Power Authority (LIPA) have offshore wind farms they are pursuing. The NYPA project would be the first major freshwater wind farm in the world. And the LIPA project could end up as the biggest proposed offshore wind farm in the US.

New York Needs to Accelerate its Renewable Deployment

New York has one of the highest renewable shares of electricity at ~21.5%, largely due to the hydroelectric plant at Niagara Falls (only Washington and Oregon currently have higher renewable shares, also mainly due to hydro). New York aims to get 45% of its electricity from renewables by 2015, a goal that will take tremendous deployment to achieve. In fact, renewable capacity of ~10 GW is necessary to reach 45% at current generation levels. Achieving such a high capacity by 2015 would translate into average annual deployment of 1.5 GW.

As I wrote a few weeks ago, NY recently became one of only eight states with over 1 GW of wind power capacity. All of the existing wind capacity in NY and the rest of the country is land-based. Now, state leaders have their sites on offshore wind helping NY reach several GW capacity by 2015.

First Freshwater Wind Farm

NYPA aims to build the first freshwater wind farm in the world. On Earth Day, they announced a Request For Expressions of Interest (RFEI) which will be followed by a Request For Proposals (RFP) from wind developers. Siting and construction will take time, but it’s great the process is in motion. I will share the MW capacity proposed as progress is revealed.

First US Offshore Wind Farm

Europe has had offshore wind farms since the 1990s. LIPA seeks to finally commission the first American one a few miles into the Atlantic Ocean. Initial capacity proposed is 350 MW with potential for a second phase to achieve 700 MW.

Sustainable Energy Transition Takes Time and Effort

Freeing NY from the need to burn coal (~12.5%) and oil (~10%) for electricity is not a quick and easy process. It will take solar and wind deployments more than double recent growth. Its nice to see NYPA and LIPA taking concrete steps to take advantage of the steady, powerful winds offshore.

Here’s to more progress in the months ahead-