SOURCE:
February 11, 2022
A groundbreaking ceremony Friday marked the start of construction of the state’s first offshore wind farm off the East End.
The project, called South Fork Wind, will be located a little over 35 miles east of Montauk Point. Its 12 turbines will generate about 130 megawatts of power.
“This one project will generate enough renewable energy to power 70,000 homes every single year and eliminate up to 6 million tons of carbon emissions over the next 25 years,” says Gov. Kathy Hochul.
The Long Island Power Authority approved the $2 billion contract in January 2017. It is expected to begin producing power late in 2023.
“This project is about a dollar a month for the average residential customer,” says LIPA CEO Tom Falcone. “We’re going to get to a zero-carbon electric grid and we’re going to do it affordably.”
Crews have already started digging test wells in preparation for the installation of the South Fork Wind power cable. It will run beneath 2 miles of town roads to the ocean end of Beach Lane.
Opponents of the wind farms say it’s dangerous because the turbines carry thousands of gallons of lubricant.
Kevin Halpin, of Coalition of Families Against Offshore Wind, wonder what could happen during a hurricane or a ship strike.
“These things don’t disintegrate when they hit the water, they’re going to be there forever,” Halpin says.
Environmentalist Adrienne Esposito, however, says offshore wind is part of the answer to fighting climate change.
Esposito, part of Citizens Campaign for the Environment, says weather events like the record six tornadoes that hit Long Island in September are doing more destruction.
“That’s a climate change impact, that’s our reality, that’s something we need to address,” Esposito says.
South Fork Wind is the first of five offshore wind farms projects slated in New York.
The state hopes to develop 9,000 megawatts of offshore wind by 2035.
State officials say the South Fork Wind project will create more than 100 union jobs for Long Island’s skilled trade workers.