Suffolk officials doubled down on their commitment to green energy at a press conference Friday arranged by County Executive Edward Romaine to urge Gov. Kathy Hochul to expedite the approval of the Sunrise Wind project.
The $700 million plan to build 90 turbines off Montauk Point and connect them to the mainland via a 123-mile cable at Smith Point is facing some headwinds due to increased construction costs. The state Public Service Commission denied a request by the project’s developer, the Denmark-based firm Ørsted, to raise electric rates to cover the higher costs, and Hochul decided to put the project back out to bid.
Ørsted and two other companies are vying for the rights to build the turbines, Norway’s Equinor and Community Offshore Wind, a joint venture between National Grid and the RWE Group operating out of Germany. The industry is holding its breath to see which company the Hochul administration selects to complete the promise of Sunrise Wind, with a decision expected by the month’s end.
Ørsted’s partner in Sunrise Wind, the New England-based energy provider Eversource, pulled out of the project as it looks to divest itself from the wind energy sector. In a fourth-quarter announcement to its shareholders, Ørsted reported more than $4 billion in losses from its wind portfolio. The company has already discontinued two renewable energy projects, Ocean Wind 1 and 2, planned off New Jersey. They have constructed 10 turbines as part of their South Fork Wind effort and recently reported the generation of wind energy into the grid.
Brookhaven Town has a lot riding on the Sunrise effort, having already received $1 million in fees for hosting the cable, with another $129 million expected over the 25-year life of the windmills. Suffolk County is promised $40 million in impact fees for the 17.5-mile route to a Holtsville substation. The 924-megawatt project, enough to serve 600,000 homes, also calls for the construction of a $37 million operations center in East Setauket, a $5 million Research and Development Partnership with Stony Brook University, and a $10 million National Wind Training Center in Brentwood. A turbine service vessel is expected to be docked at Port Jefferson.
“We welcomed wind and were able to make sure they had a landing spot, unlike East Hampton and Wainscot,” Romaine said, taking a shot at the East End towns that rejected the cable. “Now we have to make the final push to get this done,” Romaine, the former Brookhaven supervisor, told the bipartisan crowd of officials, environmentalists, and labor and business leaders he had assembled. “It’s absolutely crucial for our energy future,” he said of the green project as an alternative to fossil fuels and the source of an estimated 800 construction and operational jobs. “All of this is extremely beneficial to our economy, our school districts, and our communities.”
Brookhaven Supervisor Daniel Panico noted that the first million dollars from Sunrise was used to build the 100-acre Patriots Preserve Park in Shirley to provide open space to the densely populated and “underserved” area.
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| Local officials were joined by environmentalists and business and labor leaders to urge Gov. Kathy Hochul to expedite approvals for Sunrise Wind. From left, Adrienne Esposito, executive director at Citizens Campaign for the Environment, Matt Cohen, executive director of the Long Island Association, Legislator Jason Richberg, Assemblyman Joseph DeStefano, Brookhaven Supervisor Dan Panico, County Executive Edward Romaine, Senator Dean Murray, Legislator James Mazzarella, and John Kennedy, Suffolk comptroller. Robert Chartuk |
“This is one of those rare occasions these days where we have a win-win situation all the way around,” said Senator Dean Murray. He pointed out that when the project was first bid, the developers weren’t faced with COVID, inflation, supply issues, the war in Ukraine, and other factors that drove up costs. “The fact that they are moving forward, the fact that they are sticking with their commitments to provide clean energy, jobs for the building trades, training facilities, is impressive. I don’t see the downside.”
“This project checks all the boxes: clean, sustainable energy, a training center, jobs, jumpstarting a new industry,” remarked Suffolk Legislator James Mazzarella. “This is an economic engine for Long Island that will make us more energy independent.”
“This will lead us to a better, cleaner, safer society,” added John Kennedy, the county comptroller.
Jennifer Garvey, the head of Ørsted’s New York Market Strategy, expressed confidence that the company will win the rebid. “We’re the only company that’s ready to build. We have state permits, federal permits, the most mature program,” she said, adding that some fabrication on land is already underway.
To make the project financially feasible, Ørsted is seeking federal tax credits and is expected to calculate in higher rates than initially predicted. “There is still a lot of incentive for renewable energy projects on the East Coast,” Garvey concluded.