Sunrise Wind Provides Update on Turbine Project

The benefits of the $700 million Sunrise Wind turbine project and the details of the cabling that will run through Brookhaven was the topic of discussion at last week’s meeting of the Chamber of Commerce of the Mastics and Shirley.

Connecting to 90 windmills towering 700-feet high off Montauk Point, the 124-mile cable will come ashore at Smith Point Park and travel up William Floyd Parkway on its way to a LIPA power station in Holtsville, Sunrise Wind spokesperson Emily Helldorfer explained. In exchange for hosting the 8-inch cable and dealing with the disruptions while it’s being installed, Brookhaven will receive $130 million in impact fees with Suffolk County taking in $40 million over the 25-year lifetime of the generating system.

A key component of the state’s plan to switch 70 percent of its energy production to renewables by 2030 and create a complete carbon-free grid by 2040, the 924-megawatt project is designed to serve 600,000 homes. Along with the impact fees, Brookhaven will see the construction of Sunrise Wind’s $37 million headquarters in East Setauket and a $5 million Research and Development Partnership with Stony Brook University. A $10 million National Wind Training Center will be built in Brentwood and a new Service Operations Vessel will be docked at Port Jefferson. The 262-foot Eco Edison recently marked its 50-percent completion milestone with more than 275,000 work hours logged to date and no lost-time accidents at the Edison Chouest shipyard in Houma, La., Sunrise Wind reported.

“We have to move away from fossil fuels to alternative energy if we are to have a shot at surviving the dangers of climate change,” said Brookhaven Supervisor Edward Romaine, who noted that seven of the last eight years were the warmest in recorded history. “I'm a great supporter of alternative energy such as wind and solar and I believe this project will be very good for us.” He said $4 million of the impact fees will go toward the constriction of a park on the east side of William Floyd where the Links golf course used to be. He said the town will also dedicate $2 million to local ambulances and public health with the bulk of the funds set to improve parklands townwide.

Legislator James Mazzarella concurred: "Sunrise Wind will provide enormous benefits to Long Island including renewable energy and jobs in both building and operating the system. We welcome Sunrise Wind as our partner in a green energy future." The project is expected to generate up to 800 construction jobs and thousands of indirect jobs to support the operations.

According to the project’s spokesperson, the cable from Montauk will be installed up to 75 feet below the ocean floor and will come up about 40 feet under the beach at Smith Point. It will be installed in a conduit six feet deep as it progresses along the southbound lane of William Floyd and will cross under Sunrise Highway on its 17.5 mile land journey to Holtsville. The parkway, and any other local roads disturbed by the installation will be repaved, Helldorfer said. The project will necessitate about 30 manholes in the pavement along its route.

“This is a great alternative to power Long Island, and empower our community,” said Chamber President Frank Montanez of FMJ Entertainment. “It will help keep our energy costs down.” The chamber members had various questions for the Sunrise Wind representatives and seemed in favor of the effort.

The green energy project, scheduled to begin at the end of the summer with completion in 2025, is a joint effort between the Danish Firm Ørsted and New England energy provider Eversource, with support from Con Edison and the New York Power Authority. New York’s Energy Research and Development Authority will oversee the distribution of the power generated by the system, while the U.S. Department of Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management dictated where the windmills are located. The Montauk site, 30 miles off the southern tip of Long Island, is also home to the South Fork wind turbines and an array of generators, Revolution Wind, slated for Rhode Island. Helldorfer said the Montauk site was chosen by WETO to reduce visual impact off the southern coast and minimize impact on fishing and marine life. The area has a flat bottom suitable for construction of the towers which will be about a mile apart.

Haugland Energy of Melville has been awarded a $200 million contract to install the cable, an undertaking that will create more than 400 jobs for skilled tradesmen and women, including heavy equipment operators, electricians, and lineworkers, reported the company, which has recently completed work on South Fork Wind. Sunrise Wind will maintain an escrow account to decommission or otherwise repurpose the turbines after their quarter-century expected lifetime is complete.

Ørsted is setting up training programs through Suffolk County Community College and Farmingdale University for workers to build and maintain the new system. For more information, visit them at sunrisewindny.com.