The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) has selected two projects for contract negotiation, under its first statewide offshore wind solicitation: the 880 MW Sunrise Wind project proposed by Bay State Wind, a 50-50 joint venture of Ørsted and Eversource Energy, and the 816 MW Empire Wind project proposed by Equinor. The two developers will now negotiate a 25-year offshore wind renewable energy certificate (OREC) for their projects. Bay State Wind has already awarded a conditional contract to Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy (SGRE) to supply offshore wind turbines for the projects, while Equinor has earmarked US$3bn for its project. Subject to contract signing and final investment decisions (FIDs), they are expected to be commissioned in 2024. With a combined capacity of 1,696 MW, they should produce enough electricity to power more than 1 million New York homes.
In January 2019, the governor of New York announced a new offshore wind capacity target of 9,000 MW for 2035, which is a nearly fourfold increase compared with the previous target of 2.4 GW by 2030. The additions in offshore wind capacity are essential in order to achieve its renewable electricity target of 70% by 2030, up from the previous target of 50%. The state also committed to 6,000 MW of solar capacity (up from 3 GW) and to double its onshore wind capacity by 2025. The state also committed itself to move to 100% carbon-free electricity by 2040 in December 2018, shortly after the notice of a new policy setting an electricity storage objective of 3,000 MW by 2030 with an interim goal of 1,500 MW by 2025.
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