New York just installed its first offshore wind turbine

The first wind turbine installation at South Fork Wind, New York State’s first offshore wind farm, is complete.

The 130-megawatt (MW) South Fork Wind will be the US’s first completed utility-scale wind farm in federal waters.

The first of 12 SG 11-200 DD Siemens Gamesa wind turbines was hoisted into place at the project site 35 miles off Montauk, New York. 

Van Oord’s offshore installation vessel, the Aeolus, is installing the turbines. A crane places the steel turbine tower onto the foundation, and then the nacelle and rotor are installed on top of the tower. Lastly, the blades are lifted and installed one by one by bolting them to the rotor.

Danish renewables giant Ørsted is jointly developing the offshore wind farm with Boston-based energy provider Eversource. South Fork Wind’s first offshore wind turbine foundation was installed at the end of June, and its first US-built offshore substation was completed at the end of July.

South Fork Wind will produce enough clean energy to power 70,000 homes in New York. It will deliver clean energy directly to the electric grid in East Hampton via a single transmission line installed in March. The energy produced will be sold to the Long Island Power Authority under the terms of a 20-year agreement.

It will eliminate up to 6 million tons of carbon emissions, or the equivalent of taking 60,000 cars off the road annually over a 25-year period. 

Hundreds of US workers and three ports in the Northeast are supporting its construction. All 12 turbines are expected to be installed by the end of 2023 or early 2024.

Read more: The world’s largest steel mill will get a second life as a wind turbine factory

Photo: South Fork Wind

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