Offshore Wind

The Biden-Harris administration announced on Tuesday its approval of the Empire Wind offshore wind project, with two facilities planned for the New York Bight, in federal waters between New Jersey and the south shore of Long Island.

Orsted and Eversource received final federal approval from the Department of the Interior this week. Construction for Revolution Wind, the first utility-scale offshore wind farm in Connecticut and Rhode Island, will begin in 2024.

Energy companies Ørsted and Eversource, developers of Connecticut's first offshore wind farm, will spend $1.25 million on the project with UConn, which will be based at their Avery Point campus.

Orsted said they would invoke part of a harbor development agreement to handle the time-sensitive loadout of the wind turbine parts for their South Fork Wind project in New York. Their turbine supplier will handle the loadout until State Pier union members return to work in New London.

Gov. Kathy Hochul has approved three offshore wind and nearly two dozen renewable energy projects to help New York shift to meet the state’s climate goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The state Public Commission Service rejected a slew of subsidies, including an “inflation adjustment,” for four offshore wind projects and 86 on-land community projects. Ahead of the decision, climate advocates rallied outside of The Plaza at Long Beach City Hall in support of these projects off the south shore of Long Island.

Earlier this week, energy company Avangrid pulled out of a project in Bridgeport, citing inflation and supply chain issues. U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) said now it’s the federal government’s turn to implement policies to encourage offshore wind development.

Avangrid opted to pay a $16 million penalty to terminate its power purchase agreement with the Connecticut Electric Distribution Companies for Bridgeport-based Park City Wind, the state's largest offshore wind project.

The agreement allows the states to work together on future offshore wind projects, in hopes that they will secure better prices for projects.

Suffolk County and Town of Brookhaven officials signed an agreement with the developers of New York's second offshore wind farm for certain investments made to the nearby community.