By Ted Caddell

The Long Island Power Authority on Wednesday delayed approving a proposed 90-MW offshore wind farm off the coast of Montauk, N.Y., that would be the largest such project in the U.S.

LIPA executives had expected an easy approval vote from its board of trustees, but they delayed the vote at the request of the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, which also has a wind farm planned for off the Long Island coast.

The authority “has asked for a brief delay of the LIPA board vote so the project can be examined in the broader context of the Offshore Wind Master Plan, the development of which [NYSERDA] is leading for the State,” NYSERDA spokeswoman Dayle E. Zatlin said.

“The Master Plan and its forthcoming draft blueprint will inform decisions about the best way to manage this valuable resource in an environmentally responsible way and in order to obtain the lowest achievable offshore wind electricity cost for New Yorkers.”

That “blueprint,” she said, should be completed in a few weeks. “Together, these efforts are part of New York’s intent to foster greater renewable energy production, including offshore wind, on Long Island and throughout the state.”

A LIPA spokesman said a few week’s delay in the vote should have no impact on the Montauk project. “We’ve been talking off-shore wind for about 11 years on our island so the few weeks delay, in context, is not a deal breaker.”

LIPA has selected Deepwater Wind, which is already building a 30-MW project off Block Island, R.I., to develop the project.

The U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has awarded about a dozen leases for commercial wind, but only the Block Island project has begun construction.

Deepwater Wind spokeswoman Meaghan Wims said the Long Island project, to be called the South Fork Wind Farm, is part of a larger lease obtained from BOEM. “We bid 90 MW to LIPA as part of this” request for proposals, she said. “Our total capacity at that site is 1,000 MW, to be built over phases. The South Fork Wind Farm is the first phase.”

Montauk Project to Use 15, 6-MW Turbines

Deepwater will install 15 6-MW turbines about 30 miles off the coast of Montauk. Two 5-MW lithium-ion batteries will replace transmission investments that otherwise would be necessary. If all goes well, construction work could begin by 2021, with an operational date of December 2022, Falcone said.

“It is part of our goal to attain 400 MW of renewable energy, as part of the New York Clean Energy Standard, by 2023,” LIPA CEO Tom Falcone said in an interview Friday.

“We have an area of our service territory, East and South Hampton, with a lot of load growth, and we needed to address it in some way,” Falcone said. He said LIPA considered a transmission project to address the growing load, but after reviewing responses to its RFP, it determined the offshore wind project fit all the requirements.

“It’s the right project, the right size, and we can land in the right price area,” he said. Falcone said the project will cost a typical residential customer about $1.20/month.

Earlier offshore wind proposals were much more expensive than that, he said. Now, the cost of offshore wind is about the same as utility-scale solar — a resource not suited for crowded Long Island.

“I am not aware of any other utility that has signed a contract on a utility-scale project like this,” Falcone said. “We don’t have many other options” when it comes to renewable energy, he said. “On Long Island, land is constrained. But we have this tremendous offshore wind resource, thousands of megawatts. It is a tremendous resource.”

Lead Time Reduced

Falcone said much of the federal review process necessary for the Montauk project has already been done by Deepwater, which could save up to three years in the lead time for the project. “That was one thing that was particularly attractive” about the Deepwater plan, he said. “They are ready to go.”

Offshore wind projects need to be reviewed by BOEM to ensure they don’t encroach on commercial shipping areas or fishing grounds.

Community opposition has hindered other offshore wind projects on the East Coast. A 468-MW facility proposed off the coast of Massachusetts is tangled up in opposition from residents and no firm construction start date has been set.

Since news of its project got out, said LIPA Spokesman Sid Nathan, the authority has received dozens of messages of support from lawmakers, business owners and labor leaders. “We don’t expect community opposition of the proposal,” Falcone said.

“New York is boldly leading the way on a clean-energy revolution that will transform the nation’s energy future,” Deepwater CEO Jeffrey Grybowski said. “There’s real momentum for offshore wind in the United States, and Long Islanders are leading the charge.”

Currently, the largest offshore wind facility in the world is the 630-MW London Array, a 175-turbine facility off England’s eastern coast, in the outer Thames Estuary. DONG Energy is building tandem wind farms off the Dutch coast that will total 700 MW.