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Released July 30, 2019 | SUGAR LAND
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Written by John Egan for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Earlier this month, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and former Vice President Al Gore delivered uplifting speeches at a signing ceremony where two elements of Cuomo's cleaner, greener New York were unveiled. Now, as the fine words fade away, the hard work begins.
On July 18, Cuomo signed a signature bill, the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA), into law and announced the state would begin contract negotiations with developers of two offshore wind projects totaling 1,696 megawatts (MW) that were selected from a competitive solicitation.
One project, the Sunrise Offshore Wind Project, located off the coast of Long Island, would provide 880 MW. That $2.8 billion project was developed by affiliates of Orsted A/S (Fredericia, Denmark) and Eversource Energy (NYSE:ES) (Boston, Massachusetts). Assuming contracts can be negotiated, construction is scheduled to begin in mid-2023, and it can begin generating electricity by mid-2026.
The second project, the Empire Wind Offshore Project, also is located off the Long Island coast. Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) (Stavanger, Norway), formerly known as Statoil, developed the 816-MW, $3-billion project. Assuming contract terms can be reached, construction is scheduled to begin by mid-2023, and power will start to flow by yearend 2025.
Click on the image at right for a map of the two proposed offshore wind projects.
Cuomo said the two projects, which when combined represent the largest-ever renewable-energy project in U.S. history, would create over 1,600 jobs. As ambitious as the two offshore wind projects are, they represent only a down payment on the governor's goal of having 9,000 MW of offshore wind operating by 2035. And those 9,000 MW of offshore wind is, in turn, only one part of the even-more ambitious CLCPA, under which the state would get 70% of its electricity from renewable resources by 2030. By 2040, under that law, the state's electricity would be 100% carbon-free and the entire state economy would become carbon-neutral.
In signing the CLCA into law July 18, Cuomo said, "The environment and climate change are the most critically important policy priorities we face. They literally will determine the future - or the lack thereof. Today we are true to the New York legacy - to lead the way forward, to govern with vision and intelligence, to set a new standard and to match our words with action."
"Now a complicating factor is that these pressing issues must be addressed at a time in which emotion and partisanship rule this nation over logic and fact," Cuomo continued. "But even in this chaos of political pandering and hyperbole, there are still facts, data and evidence. And climate change is an undisputable scientific fact. Period. To deny climate change is to deny reality. All credible scientists agree."
Acknowledging the numerous challenges that stand between rhetoric and reality, Cuomo said, "Cries for a new green movement are hollow political rhetoric if not combined with specific aggressive goals and realistic plan on how to achieve them. And that is much easier said than done. But that, my friends, is the challenge for the great state of New York, to lead not just with rhetoric, but with results."
Former Vice President Al Gore joined Cuomo at the signing ceremony. According to a transcript provided by Cuomo's office, Gore commented: "Our transition away from the dirty and polluting ways of the past is absolutely essential to our survival and for reasons well known to all of us here, it's not being led at the federal level at all. But thank goodness it is being led by New York State and others that have joined with the leadership of Governor Cuomo."
Gore turned to the disparate impact that industrial pollution has on children of color compared to white children: "It is startling to me that in this United States of America, the number of African American children who die from asthma is ten times greater than the number of Caucasian children that die from asthma. This is unacceptable and that's only one of the statistics that illustrates why we have got to do better on environmental and climate justice."
For all the uplifting words spoken by Cuomo and Gore, the projects likely face an uphill climb. Despite its widespread popularity in Europe, where an estimated 12,000 MW of offshore turbines operate off the coasts of the U.K. and Germany alone, only one offshore windfarm is operating in the U.S. - the 30-MW Block Island project off the coast of Rhode Island, which Orsted spent about $290 million to build. That five-turbine windfarm began operating in late 2016.
Indeed, only days before the July 18 media event, the developer of other windfarm projects off the coast of Long Island decided to withdraw its proposal to build hundreds of megawatts of offshore wind generating capacity, according to a report in Newsday. East Wind LLC, a subsidiary of German company EnBW Energie Baden-Württemberg AG, said its decision was based on the potential impact that its project could have had on commercial fishing companies.
Instead, East Wind will seek to develop projects farther off the coast of Long Island. The company had identified six potential sites for the Long Island coast, each of which could have supported up to 800 MW of generation. But each project would have required an estimated 79,000 acres of sea bottom, according to the Newsday report.
Prolonged and vociferous local opposition to the planned Cape Wind project, off the coast of Massachusetts, eventually caused the developer to cancel the $2.5 billion project a few years back. Indeed, Industrial Info has tracked the cancellation of 24 proposed U.S. offshore windfarms, with a total generating capacity of more than 12,000 MW and a total investment value of about $44.4 billion, over the last decade. For more on this, see January 15, 2015, article - Cape Wind Project's Future in Doubt after Utilities Cancel PPAs. For more on the challenges facing offshore wind projects in the U.S., see June 17, 2019, article - Can U.S. Offshore Wind Find a Way to Realize its Vast Potential?
Besides New York, developers have proposed to build offshore wind projects off the coasts of other Atlantic Coast states, including New Jersey and Massachusetts. The month before Cuomo's July 18 announcement, New Jersey signed a contract with Orsted to develop a 1,100-MW offshore windfarm.
The New York wind projects must still clear permitting and environmental hurdles. And New York officials can't disclose the cost of the projects until negotiations with the two developers are complete. One of the issues that contributed to the downfall of the Cape Wind project was its high cost. Offshore wind developers have said the cost of projects has declined in recent years, as better technologies have increased operating efficiencies and lowered expenses.
Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, six offices in North America and 12 international offices, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities. Follow IIR on: Facebook-Twitter-LinkedIn. For more information on our coverage, send inquiries to info@industrialinfo.com or visit us online at http://www.industrialinfo.com/.
On July 18, Cuomo signed a signature bill, the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA), into law and announced the state would begin contract negotiations with developers of two offshore wind projects totaling 1,696 megawatts (MW) that were selected from a competitive solicitation.
One project, the Sunrise Offshore Wind Project, located off the coast of Long Island, would provide 880 MW. That $2.8 billion project was developed by affiliates of Orsted A/S (Fredericia, Denmark) and Eversource Energy (NYSE:ES) (Boston, Massachusetts). Assuming contracts can be negotiated, construction is scheduled to begin in mid-2023, and it can begin generating electricity by mid-2026.
The second project, the Empire Wind Offshore Project, also is located off the Long Island coast. Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) (Stavanger, Norway), formerly known as Statoil, developed the 816-MW, $3-billion project. Assuming contract terms can be reached, construction is scheduled to begin by mid-2023, and power will start to flow by yearend 2025.
Cuomo said the two projects, which when combined represent the largest-ever renewable-energy project in U.S. history, would create over 1,600 jobs. As ambitious as the two offshore wind projects are, they represent only a down payment on the governor's goal of having 9,000 MW of offshore wind operating by 2035. And those 9,000 MW of offshore wind is, in turn, only one part of the even-more ambitious CLCPA, under which the state would get 70% of its electricity from renewable resources by 2030. By 2040, under that law, the state's electricity would be 100% carbon-free and the entire state economy would become carbon-neutral.
In signing the CLCA into law July 18, Cuomo said, "The environment and climate change are the most critically important policy priorities we face. They literally will determine the future - or the lack thereof. Today we are true to the New York legacy - to lead the way forward, to govern with vision and intelligence, to set a new standard and to match our words with action."
"Now a complicating factor is that these pressing issues must be addressed at a time in which emotion and partisanship rule this nation over logic and fact," Cuomo continued. "But even in this chaos of political pandering and hyperbole, there are still facts, data and evidence. And climate change is an undisputable scientific fact. Period. To deny climate change is to deny reality. All credible scientists agree."
Acknowledging the numerous challenges that stand between rhetoric and reality, Cuomo said, "Cries for a new green movement are hollow political rhetoric if not combined with specific aggressive goals and realistic plan on how to achieve them. And that is much easier said than done. But that, my friends, is the challenge for the great state of New York, to lead not just with rhetoric, but with results."
Former Vice President Al Gore joined Cuomo at the signing ceremony. According to a transcript provided by Cuomo's office, Gore commented: "Our transition away from the dirty and polluting ways of the past is absolutely essential to our survival and for reasons well known to all of us here, it's not being led at the federal level at all. But thank goodness it is being led by New York State and others that have joined with the leadership of Governor Cuomo."
Gore turned to the disparate impact that industrial pollution has on children of color compared to white children: "It is startling to me that in this United States of America, the number of African American children who die from asthma is ten times greater than the number of Caucasian children that die from asthma. This is unacceptable and that's only one of the statistics that illustrates why we have got to do better on environmental and climate justice."
For all the uplifting words spoken by Cuomo and Gore, the projects likely face an uphill climb. Despite its widespread popularity in Europe, where an estimated 12,000 MW of offshore turbines operate off the coasts of the U.K. and Germany alone, only one offshore windfarm is operating in the U.S. - the 30-MW Block Island project off the coast of Rhode Island, which Orsted spent about $290 million to build. That five-turbine windfarm began operating in late 2016.
Indeed, only days before the July 18 media event, the developer of other windfarm projects off the coast of Long Island decided to withdraw its proposal to build hundreds of megawatts of offshore wind generating capacity, according to a report in Newsday. East Wind LLC, a subsidiary of German company EnBW Energie Baden-Württemberg AG, said its decision was based on the potential impact that its project could have had on commercial fishing companies.
Instead, East Wind will seek to develop projects farther off the coast of Long Island. The company had identified six potential sites for the Long Island coast, each of which could have supported up to 800 MW of generation. But each project would have required an estimated 79,000 acres of sea bottom, according to the Newsday report.
Prolonged and vociferous local opposition to the planned Cape Wind project, off the coast of Massachusetts, eventually caused the developer to cancel the $2.5 billion project a few years back. Indeed, Industrial Info has tracked the cancellation of 24 proposed U.S. offshore windfarms, with a total generating capacity of more than 12,000 MW and a total investment value of about $44.4 billion, over the last decade. For more on this, see January 15, 2015, article - Cape Wind Project's Future in Doubt after Utilities Cancel PPAs. For more on the challenges facing offshore wind projects in the U.S., see June 17, 2019, article - Can U.S. Offshore Wind Find a Way to Realize its Vast Potential?
Besides New York, developers have proposed to build offshore wind projects off the coasts of other Atlantic Coast states, including New Jersey and Massachusetts. The month before Cuomo's July 18 announcement, New Jersey signed a contract with Orsted to develop a 1,100-MW offshore windfarm.
The New York wind projects must still clear permitting and environmental hurdles. And New York officials can't disclose the cost of the projects until negotiations with the two developers are complete. One of the issues that contributed to the downfall of the Cape Wind project was its high cost. Offshore wind developers have said the cost of projects has declined in recent years, as better technologies have increased operating efficiencies and lowered expenses.
Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, six offices in North America and 12 international offices, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities. Follow IIR on: Facebook-Twitter-LinkedIn. For more information on our coverage, send inquiries to info@industrialinfo.com or visit us online at http://www.industrialinfo.com/.
