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First it was Brooklyn. Now it’s Staten Island. Two completely different New York Metropolis boroughs are set to host new hubs for offshore wind farms, and each are claiming to be among the many largest within the US. The 2 new hubs are additional proof that that US offshore wind business is already again on its toes, regardless of the interfering fingers of fossil power stakeholders and a sequence of different hindrances.
New Offshore Wind Hub For Staten Island
Beginning with the latest information first, the brand new Staten Island offshore wind hub is named Arthur Kill Terminal. The undertaking will sit on 32 acres on the west shore of Staten Island abutting the Arthur Kill, a waterway that separates the borough from New Jersey. Its deliberate 1-gigawatt capability will reportedly make it the largest privately-owned wind hub within the US.
The undertaking comes underneath the umbrella of Atlantic Offshore Terminals, an infrastructure and industrial actual property improvement startup that launched in 2018. AOT describes its core enterprise as focusing like a laser on the “rapidly progressing US offshore wind industry.”
That’s an optimistic take, contemplating that the fast progress nearly evaporated simply final 12 months after a sequence of cancellations introduced a number of offshore initiatives alongside the Atlantic coast to a screeching halt. Except for the fossil power pursuits at work, provide chain points, inflation, and different nuts-and-bolts elements had been in play. Nevertheless, that was then. New York is again on its toes with new offshore initiatives, and neighboring New Jersey is among the many different states resetting their offshore agenda as properly.
Comply with The Cash
Non permanent setback apart, anybody who pronounced the loss of life of the US offshore wind business final 12 months was not following the cash path. In July of 2021, the choice asset supervisor Apollo World Administration introduced it nailed down an settlement for investing within the Arthur Kill Terminal. The A-list agency had about $461 billion of belongings underneath administration as of March 31, 2021.
“The Arthur Kill Terminal development aligns with Apollo’s expertise in renewable energy infrastructure and with the Firm’s longstanding commitment to strong environmental, social and governance principles,” Apollo said in a press launch dated July 15, 2021.
Apollo additionally cited New York State’s goal of 9,000 megawatts’ price of offshore wind, a part of a juicy East coast market that no investor would wish to surrender simply.
Extra Cash For Staten Island
Within the meantime, New York State’s financial improvement company, Empire State Growth, was including its muscle to the wind hub effort. In 2022 the company introduced that it received a $48 million grant from the federal Division of Transportation in assist of the undertaking.
The Arthur Kill Terminal “represents an unparalleled opportunity to meet the urgent need for suitable offshore wind ports on the East Coast and will be an important asset for offshore wind as the only non-bridge restricted offshore wind staging and assembly port in New York State,” ESD said, referring to the issue of transporting large wind turbine elements underneath bridges that weren’t designed for such work.
What’s Up With Floating Offshore Wind Generators?
ESD additionally emphasised that Arthur Kill Terminal will accommodate next-generation offshore wind applied sciences, together with floating offshore wind generators and foundations.
The floating turbine angle is fascinating as a result of offshore wind websites in New York State and virtually all the East Coast are appropriate for standard fixed-platform development. The water is shallow sufficient to park wind generators on monopiles pounded into the ocean mattress, so there is no such thing as a want for the extra delicate engineering feat of situating generators on a floating platform.
Both AOT is already positioning itself within the provide chain for offshore wind websites in Maine that require floating wind expertise, or the federal Bureau of Ocean Power Administration is open to the thought of leasing offshore wind websites in deeper waters. Or…it may imply one thing else totally.
Particulars on the undertaking are somewhat skinny in the intervening time. Apollo has not issued any new releases for the reason that 2021 announcement, ESD has additionally been mum since 2022, and the undertaking web site for the Arthur Kill Terminal was nonetheless within the bare-bones stage as of this writing. If you happen to can monitor anything down, drop us a word within the remark thread.
In 2022, although, US Senator Chuck Schumer of New York did let phrase drop that the brand new wind hub would come with a “1365-foot-long wharf with adjacent laydown area that has enhanced load bearing capacity.”
One other aspect consists of “a tenant area consisting of a 15,266 square-foot combined warehouse and office building and a project owner’s area consisting of a 4,200 square-foot office building.”
An Offshore Wind Hub For Brooklyn
Earlier this week, AOT posted a short announcement on LinkedIn indicating that the undertaking is transferring by way of the pipeline, the newest milestone being approval from the New York Metropolis Planning Fee for “land use actions needed to facilitate the construction and operation of Arthur Kill Terminal.”
In the meantime over in Brooklyn, the beginning of development on the brand new South Brooklyn Marine Terminal was marked with a groundbreaking ceremony on June 10.
The undertaking already has a shopper within the type of the 54-turbine, 810-gigawatt Empire I offshore wind farm, which comes underneath the umbrella of the agency Equinor.
After that, consideration will flip to different alternatives. “When completed, the facility will be one of the largest dedicated offshore wind hubs in the United States, designed to accommodate future offshore wind projects,” Equinor defined in a press assertion.
That most probably consists of Empire Wind II, which can weigh in at 1,260 megawatts.
To ice the inexperienced cake, the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal is deliberate as a “low-emissions facility,” with an help from solar energy. EV charging stations are additionally a part of the package deal.
Comply with The Offshore Wind Cash, Half II
The fast revival of offshore wind plans for the Atlantic coast is a poke within the eye of fossil power stakeholders, a few of which have reportedly lent a hand to native teams against offshore wind.
Within the early 2000s, it was potential for the opposition to squash offshore initiatives. Nevertheless, renewable power stakeholders have grown extra monetary muscle since then, and they aren’t afraid to throw their weight round.
Equinor, for instance, describes itself as “a broad international energy company and one of the largest offshore wind developers in the world.” Along with the two gigawatts’ price of offshore wind represented by the Empire initiatives, Equinor has one other 2.1 gigawatts deliberate for elsewhere within the US.
“The United States is an attractive growth market for Equinor,” the corporate provides, noting that its total renewable power plan anticipates a complete capability of 12-16 gigawatts globally, by 2030.
That’s simply Equinor. One other wind business stakeholder to keep watch over is Ørsted, which is relying on 5 gigawatts of offshore wind alongside the US East coast. If you happen to can title any others, drop us a word within the remark thread.
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Photograph (cropped): Staten Island will host a brand new offshore wind hub, one among two key wind business initiatives within the pipeline for New York Metropolis (courtesy of Atlantic Offshore Terminals).
