Brookhaven Town is expecting a virtual windfall from the $700 million Sunrise Wind project that will bring energy generated from windmills 30 miles off Montauk Point up through William Floyd Parkway via a 124-mile cable system feeding into the region’s electrical grid.
Town and Suffolk officials joined environmentalists and other project supporters last week at a Smith Point press conference to announce $130 million in impact fees from the project to be paid to Brookhaven over 25 years. The fees, in exchange for hosting 17.5 miles of underground transmission cable through town right of ways and streets, include $28 million in payments in lieu of taxes and a $3 million commitment for the improvement of town-owned parkland and open space in the Mastic-Shirley area, according to Supervisor Edward Romaine. The town will also dedicate $2 million from the fees for local ambulances and public health.
The region is also expected to reap huge economic benefits from the 880-megawatt project through the creation of hundreds of jobs to build, operate and maintain the system which is planned to serve 600,000 homes. As part of the effort, Sunrise Wind, a partnership between the Danish firm Ørsted and Eversource, a New England energy provider, will see the construction of a $37 million headquarters in East Setauket and a $10 million National Offshore Wind Training Center in Brentwood. Port Jefferson has been designated as the homeport of the project’s custom-built 260-foot Service Operation Vessel and the green energy effort will also create a $5 million Research and Development Partnership with Stony Brook University. Suffolk County is also expected to receive about $40 million in fees over 25-years.
“I am proud that the Town of Brookhaven, in conjunction with Sunrise Wind, is taking the lead on a project that will generate clean green energy, create lasting employment, and put Suffolk County on the cutting edge of offshore wind operations,” Romaine said.
Envisioning a world run entirely on green energy, Ørsted has been ranked the most sustainable company in the world and is looking to be the world's first major energy concern to become carbon-neutral by 2025. Eversource was ranked by Newsweek, Forbes and JUST capital as one of the nation's most responsible companies and has committed to becoming carbon neutral by 2030, faster than any other utility in the U.S.
Sunrise Wind is following in the footsteps of the company’s South Fork Wind project, the first wind farm to connect to the local grid in Suffolk County, which is currently under construction and expected to be operational by the end of the year. Supervisor Romaine said he welcomes a wind farm connection at the former site of the Shoreham nuclear plant, a facility that was powered up but never put into operation due to safety concerns. Long Island ratepayers are still paying for the debacle that went defunct in the 1980s. Romaine said the town is also pursuing the installation of solar panels on top of the Yaphank landfill as a way to bolster Brookhaven’s green energy future.
But not everyone is onboard with switching the nation’s power grid to solar and wind. Energy expert David Walsh notes that power from these systems cannot be stored and must be backed up with continuous-cycle generation plants. “Wind power is only reliable on average about 10 hours per day,” Walsh said in an interview with the South Shore Press. “New York’s goal of committing 70 percent of its power to renewable will mean service curtailments, brownouts, and blackouts, as well as a reliance on other states and even Canada for its energy needs.”
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Local government and labor leaders are optimistic over the region’s green energy future. “Long Island is fast becoming the epicenter of a New Green Economy,” said Matthew Aracich, president of the Building and Construction Trades Council of Nassau and Suffolk Counties. His view was echoed by John Durso, president of the Long Island Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO: “Sunrise Wind will have a positive impact on our region and build a brighter future for all New Yorker's,” Durso said. “This project's robust workforce commitments, coupled with a strong community host agreement, are significant steps to achieving a truly just transition.”
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Basil Seggos added: “The Sunrise Wind Project is building on New York’s robust offshore wind efforts on Long Island and across the State advancing clean energy for New Yorkers and creating good-paying, family-sustaining jobs of the future. This agreement builds on our commitment to meet New York’s aggressive climate targets under our nation-leading climate law and ensure a cleaner, greener environment for future generations to improve quality of life and combat the global threat of climate change.”