State Releases Plan for Harnessing Offshore Wind Energy

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced the release of New York State's offshore wind blueprint on Thursday, a framework that could lead to a proposed 90-megawatt, 15-turbine wind farm 30 miles east of Montauk.

The blueprint is an initial step toward harvesting the 39 gigawatts of wind energy potential off the state's Atlantic coast, enough to power approximately 15 million residences, according to the document. Offshore wind also has the potential to serve as a local source of affordable power for the New York City metropolitan area and Long Island, where energy demand and prices are high.

"New York is a national leader in combating climate change and now we are taking the next big step forward," Mr. Cuomo said in a statement issued on Thursday. "By developing a viable offshore wind energy source, we will continue to provide New Yorkers with clean, affordable power and lay the foundation for a thriving clean energy economy. This plan represents the future of New York and will cement our role as a leader in the renewable energy industry for generations to come."

The blueprint precedes the planned 2017 release of a master plan, a comprehensive strategy for developing offshore wind resources in the state that will include recommendations on the best solutions and practices for maximizing the development and utilization of offshore wind.

The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority is the lead entity coordinating the master plan, which will include site identification and leasing strategies; site assessment and characterization predevelopment activities; cost, benefit, and interconnection studies; analysis and recommended mechanisms for agreements to sell future energy production; local economic impacts and job creation; stakeholder and community engagement; educational efforts, and viewshed, fishing, and other mitigation efforts.

The agency is undertaking a digital aerial survey of offshore wildlife, the first round of which was completed last month. The survey of a 16,000-square-mile area off the Long Island coast is to provide baseline data on offshore wildlife. Surveys will be conducted four times per year over three years.

The blueprint's release comes shortly before the nation's first offshore wind farm, the 30-megawatt, five-turbine Block Island Wind Farm, is to begin operation, in November. Deepwater Wind, the Rhode Island company that built the Block Island farm, has proposed the larger wind farm 30 miles from Montauk. The Long Island Power Authority was set to formally support that installation when its board of directors met in July, but a vote was postponed at the 11th hour when NYSERDA asked for time to study the proposal in the broader context of the master plan.

The New York Offshore Wind Alliance, a consortium of developers, environmental groups, and others, was announced on Monday. The group intends to pressure state officials to maintain the commitment to offshore wind, specifically the development of 5,000 megawatts of offshore wind power by 2030. That effort, said Liz Gordon, the alliance's director, is essential to the state's Clean Energy Standard, a mandate requiring that half of New York's electricity come from renewable sources by 2030.