3 More Offshore Wind Projects Bite the Dust

Things are looking down again for New York’s embattled offshore wind industry.

The state is abandoning all three of the offshore wind projects it awarded conditional contracts to last October, after failing to secure final agreements with any of the developers, Politico reported Friday.

New York officials and the Biden administration had lauded the three projects — which were expected to supply about 12% of New York’s electricity in 2030 — as a key milestone in the nation’s transition to renewable energy. The planned investments in offshore wind were “demonstrating to the nation how to recalibrate in the wake of global economic challenges while driving us toward a greener and more prosperous future for generations to come,” Gov. Kathy Hochul said at the time.

The projects all hinged on the availability of a larger turbine then in the works from General Electric — and faltered after GE decided to stop work on the new turbine earlier this year. Combined, the three projects would have added more than 4,000 megawatts of offshore wind capacity to the regional electric grid. Their termination puts New York’s ambitious climate target of 70% renewable energy by 2030 further out of reach.

This setback occurs just as things appeared to be looking up for New York’s offshore wind industry. In February, the state awarded new conditional contracts for its Sunrise Wind and Empire Wind projects, which were first bid out in 2019 but then re-bid after the state refused to renegotiate in the face of rising costs. Together, those would contribute more than 1,700 megawatts to the grid.

State regulators reiterated their commitment to offshore wind on Friday, according to Politico. The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, the agency overseeing the offshore wind projects, is expected to initiate another round of offshore wind bids soon.