Federal permitting delays will continue into next year, representing a significant setback for the developers of South Fork Wind, the proposed 15-turbine wind farm to be constructed approximately 35 miles east of Montauk Point.
On a quarterly-earnings call yesterday, Henrik Poulsen, chief executive officer of the Danish energy company Orsted, provided a schedule update for the wind farm to be constructed and operated by Orsted's subsidiary, Orsted U.S. Offshore Wind, and its partner, Eversource Energy.
According to Meaghan Wims, a spokeswoman for South Fork Wind, "We expect federal permitting delays to continue into 2021, which constitutes a significant delay." Ms. Wims added that the developers are awaiting confirmation as to whether the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management will adopt the proposed uniform turbine layout in the Northeast of one nautical mile by one nautical mile, "but it's increasingly likely we won't know the final decision on the project layout until mid-November."
After a pause to analyze public comment on the impact of offshore wind development, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management reinitiated the permitting process in August, and South Fork Wind was given a permitting schedule targeting the bureau's Record of Decision for October 2021.
The developers had hoped to have the wind farm operational by the end of 2022. Given the updated permitting schedule, the developers now expect it to be operational by the end of 2023.
