U.S. Feds Greenlight Sunrise Offshore Windfarm

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Another offshore windfarm has been given the green light in the northeastern U.S. This week, the U.S. Department of the Interior's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) gave the final federal clearance for developers Orsted A/S (Fredericia, Denmark) and Eversource Energy (NYSE:ES) (Hartford, Connecticut) to construct their Sunrise Windfarm about 30 miles off the coast of Montauk Point, Long Island.

The BOEM's approval allows for 84 turbines to generate a combined 924 megawatts (MW), making Sunrise one of the largest U.S. offshore projects to gain approval to date. Earlier this year, Orsted completed the much smaller South Fork offshore windfarm, making the 132-MW facility the first utility-scale offshore wind project to be completed in U.S. waters.

With Sunrise's approval in place, the project team is set to expedite development of the onshore transmission system. Onshore transmission and distribution work for the project include a new converter substation in Brookhaven, New York. The power from the turbines initially will flow to two offshore substations and be carried onshore by the Sunrise Interconnection, a proposed, 100-mile submarine transmission line that will come onshore in Port Jefferson, New York, before running six miles onshore to a substation.

Offshore work is expected to begin in the second half of this year, and developers say the facility should begin generating power in 2026. Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Power Project Database can learn more by viewing the related project reports.

The windfarm is the seventh windfarm in U.S. waters to be approved by the BOEM. The BOEM's last approval was for the Empire offshore windfarm in November; it later confirmed developer Equinor's (NYSE:EQNR) (Stavanger, Norway) construction and operations plans for the facility in February. Equinor became the sole owner of the Empire project in January, when it negotiated with co-owner BP (NYSE:BP) (London, England) to take full control of the project in exchange for relinquishing its ownership of the Beacon offshore project, leaving that windfarm's ownership solely to BP. For additional information, see January 29, 2024, article - Contracts, Ownership Shift in U.S. Offshore Wind Sector.

The BOEM gave the go-ahead to another Orsted-Eversource offshore project in February last year, approving its construction and operation plan in November. The Revolution Windfarm, located about 15 miles off the coast of Rhode Island, will use 65 turbines, each rated above 10 MW, to provide 704 MW of power to Connecticut and Rhode Island. The first turbine foundation for the facility was placed in May. The facility is expected to come online toward the end of 2025. Subscribers can click here to learn more about the project.

Orsted's plans aren't limited to offshore work, however, and the company has several onshore projects underway in the U.S. Most of these projects are for solar generation. Examples include the Mockingbird Solar Center in Lamar County, Texas, about 100 miles northeast of Dallas. Engineering, procurement and construction firm Blattner Energy Incorporated (Avon, Minnesota) kicked off construction of the facility early last year, putting it on track to begin providing emissions-free power generation to the Texas grid later in 2024. Subscribers can learn more by viewing the related project reports.

Blattner is at work on another Orsted solar farm in Pinal County, Arizona. Unlike the Mockingbird plant, Orsted's 300-MW Eleven Mile solar farm will feature a battery energy storage system (BESS) capable of providing up to 300 MW for up to four hours when the sun isn't shining. Most of the power from the project has been contracted to Facebook and Instagram parent company Meta Platforms Incorporated (NASDAQ:META) (Menlo Park, California). Meta is underway with construction of a data center complex in Mesa, a southeastern suburb of Phoenix located about 50 miles from the solar facility. Subscribers to Industrial Info's Industrial Manufacturing Project Database can learn more about the data center construction by viewing the related project reports.

The Eleven Mile solar and storage project is expected to begin providing power later this year. Subscribers can learn more about it by viewing the project report.

Subscribers to Industrial Info's GMI Database can click here to view reports for most of the projects discussed in this article and click here for the related plant profiles.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking over 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 trillion (USD).