Vineyard Wind has submitted a proposal to build an offshore wind project, called Liberty Wind, in New York State, which could have a capacity of up to 1.2GW.
Image: The proposed Liberty Wind project at a capacity of 1.2GW can power up to 750,000 homes. Photo: courtesy of Pixabay.
The Liberty Wind proposal, which includes three size options of 400MW, 800MW and 1,200MW, was filed by Vineyard Wind in response to New York State Energy Research and Development Authority’s (NYSERDA) first large-scale offshore wind solicitation, ORECRFP18-1, which was issued in November 2018.
Vineyard Wind, which is a 50:50 joint venture between Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) and Avangrid Renewables, claims that the 1.2GW size is the most cost-effective option for New York ratepayers. The proposed 1.2GW offshore wind farm would generate enough electricity to meet the power consumption needs of more than 750,000 homes in the region.
Furthermore, the proposed 1.2GW Liberty Wind project could be a major contribution to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s objective to develop 9GW of new offshore wind generation.
Vineyard Wind CEO Lars Thaaning Pedersen said: “Our team’s extensive offshore wind experience from around the world and nearby in New England, where we are building the nation’s first utility scale offshore wind project, allows us to deliver the best project for New York.
“Liberty Wind will bring clean energy at the lowest price to New York ratepayers along with substantial economic benefits for the state through investments in local infrastructure and businesses and by utilizing the state’s existing supply chain and workforce.”
The proposed offshore wind farm to be located in the Atlantic Ocean will deliver the generated power through a submarine cable directly to the New York grid at an existing substation located on Long Island.
Vineyard Wind said that the turbines of the project will be located in the US territorial waters, 136km away from the nearest New York shore.
The company has entered into a collaboration with transmission developer Anbaric Development Partners for the proposed Liberty Wind offshore wind farm.
Under the collaboration, Vineyard Wind will finance and own the power generation components of the wind farm while Anbaric will finance and own the transmission components.
Anbaric CEO Ed Krapels said: “Anbaric is delighted to be teaming up with Vineyard Wind on the Liberty Wind Project.
“Our buried cable will bring renewable power into the heart of the Long Island electric grid, where it can be distributed to hundreds of thousands of customers in southern New York. This is the first leg of a well-designed New York ocean grid for offshore wind that will help achieve Governor Cuomo’s goal of building a planned offshore grid.”
In December 2018, the US Department of the Interior (DOI) awarded rights to Vineyard Wind to develop an offshore wind farm off the Massachusetts coast in the OCS-A 0522 lease for a sum of $135.1m.