Governor Hochul Announces Start of Construction on New York’s Largest Offshore Wind Project

924-Megawatt Sunrise Wind to Power Approximately 600,000 Homes Once Completed in 2026

New York’s Fifth Offshore Wind Solicitation Now Open with Proposals Due September 9

Governor Hochul announced the start of construction on New York’s largest offshore wind project, Sunrise Wind, a 924-megawatt project developed by Ørsted. Once completed, the project will provide enough clean energy to power approximately 600,000 New York homes. Building on New York’s 10-Point Action Plan, the Governor also announced the issuance of New York’s fifth offshore wind solicitation to advance the next wave of clean energy development projects off the state’s coast, with final proposals due on September 9, 2024.

“We're growing New York's green economy, building clean energy, and expanding economic opportunities for all New Yorkers,” Governor Hochul said. “By breaking ground on Sunrise Wind and advancing the next wave of offshore wind projects, New York is passing a tremendous milestone to combat climate change. These projects will create good-paying union jobs and demonstrate that New York is leading the nation to build the offshore wind industry.

This groundbreaking at the Boys and Girls Club of Bellport on Long Island officially kicked off the start of the Sunrise Wind project which will support more than 800 direct jobs during the construction phase of the project and will spur economic benefits from the Capital Region to Long Island – including a $700 million investment in Suffolk County alone. It will be built under industry-leading project labor agreements ensuring local union labor's participation in all phases of construction. The project will be located approximately 30 miles east of Montauk, New York, with an approved transmission route connecting to the State’s electricity grid at the Holbrook Substation in the Town of Brookhaven in Suffolk County.

As a mature project, Sunrise Wind has already completed all major federal and state permitting milestones and received approval of its Construction and Operations Plan (COP) from the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) on June 21, 2024.

This milestone builds on a series of significant offshore wind developments for the State in 2024, including the completion of the first utility-scale offshore wind farm in the U.S. Ørsted’s South Fork Wind, finalization of contracts from New York’s fourth offshore wind solicitation and a historic groundbreaking at the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal, which will support staging and assembly of offshore wind components and serve as an operations and maintenance hub for the Empire Wind 1 offshore wind project.

As the nation's leading hub for offshore wind, New York State is continuing to grow its offshore wind energy portfolio through a diverse set of project proposals while leveraging public and private capital to build a robust supply chain. In coordination with New York’s fifth offshore wind solicitation, today, NYSERDA is also releasing the coordinated approach being taken to support major manufacturing investments in New York State to advance the regional offshore wind industry. To learn more about the upcoming competitive process, visit NYSERDA’s supply chain webpage.

New York State’s Nation-Leading Climate Plan

New York State's climate agenda calls for an orderly and just transition that creates family-sustaining jobs, continues to foster a green economy across all sectors and ensures that at least 35 percent, with a goal of 40 percent, of the benefits of clean energy investments are directed to disadvantaged communities. Guided by some of the nation’s most aggressive climate and clean energy initiatives, New York is advancing a suite of efforts – including the New York Cap-and-Invest program (NYCI) and other complementary policies – to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent by 2030 and 85 percent by 2050 from 1990 levels. New York is also on a path toward a zero-emission electricity sector by 2040, including 70 percent renewable energy generation by 2030 and economy-wide carbon neutrality by mid-century. A cornerstone of this transition is New York's unprecedented clean energy investments, including more than $28 billion in 61 large-scale renewable and transmission projects across the State, $6.8 billion to reduce building emissions, $3.3 billion to scale up solar, nearly $3 billion for clean transportation initiatives and over $2 billion in NY Green Bank commitments. These and other investments are supporting more than 170,000 jobs in New York’s clean energy sector as of 2022 and over 3,000-percent growth in the distributed solar sector since 2011. To reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve air quality, New York also adopted zero-emission vehicle regulations, including requiring all new passenger cars and light-duty trucks sold in the State be zero emission by 2035. Partnerships are continuing to advance New York’s climate action with more than 400 registered and more than 130 certified Climate Smart Communities, over 500 Clean Energy Communities, and the State’s largest community air monitoring initiative in 10 disadvantaged communities across the State to help target air pollution and combat climate change.