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America\u2019s first commercial-scale offshore wind farm is officially open, a long-awaited moment that helps pave the way for a succession of large wind farms.<\/p>\n
Danish wind energy developer \u00d8rsted and the utility Eversource built a 12-turbine wind farm called South Fork Wind 35 miles (56 kilometers) east of Montauk Point, New York. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul went to Long Island Thursday to announce that the turbines are delivering clean power to the local electric grid, flipping a massive light switch to \u201cturn on the future.\u201d Interior Secretary Deb Haaland was also on hand.<\/p>\n
It marks a turnaround from last November, when the Danish company, along with earnings, took a $4 billion writedown as it scrapped its Ocean Wind I and II projects<\/a>\u00a0off the coast of southern New Jersey, with some tough talk about the American market. \u201cThese are obviously some very tough decisions,\u201d Mads Nipper, Orsted\u2019s CEO, said on an earnings conference call. He said the world\u2019s largest offshore wind developer had decided \u201cto de-risk the most painful part of our portfolio, and that is the U.S.\u201d<\/p>\n Achieving commercial scale is a turning point for the industry, but what\u2019s next? Experts say the nation needs a major buildout of this type of clean electricity to address climate change.<\/p>\n Offshore wind is central to both\u00a0national<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0state plans<\/a>\u00a0to transition to a carbon-free electricity system. The Biden administration has approved six commercial-scale offshore wind energy projects, and auctioned lease areas for offshore wind for the first time off the Pacific and Gulf of Mexico coasts. New York picked two more projects last month to power more than 1 million homes.<\/p>\n This is just the beginning, Hochul said. She said the completion of South Fork shows that New York will aggressively pursue climate change solutions to save future generations from a world that otherwise could be dangerous.\u00a0South Fork can generate 132 megawatts<\/a>\u00a0of offshore wind energy to power more than 70,000 homes.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s great to be first, we want to make sure we\u2019re not the last. That\u2019s why we\u2019re showing other states how it can be done, why we\u2019re moving forward, on to other projects,\u201d Hochul told The Associated Press in an exclusive interview before the announcement.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is the date and the time that people will look back in the history of our nation and say, \u2018This is when it changed,\u2019\u201d Hochul added.<\/p>\n South Fork will generate more than four times the power of a five-turbine pilot project developed earlier off the coast of Rhode Island, and unlike that subsidized test project, was developed after Orsted and Eversource were chosen in a competitive bidding process to supply power to Long Island. The Long Island Power Authority first approved this project in 2017. The blades for the 12 Siemens Gamesa turbines reach speeds of more than 200 miles per hour (350 kilometers per hour).<\/p>\n \u00d8rsted CEO Mads Nipper called the opening a major milestone that proves large offshore wind farms can be built, both in the United States and in other countries with little or no offshore wind energy currently.<\/p>\n With South Fork finished, \u00d8rsted and Eversource are turning their attention to the work they will do offshore beginning this spring for a wind farm more than five times its size. Revolution Wind will be Rhode Island and Connecticut\u2019s first commercial-scale offshore wind farm, capable of powering more than 350,000 homes next year. The site where the cable will connect in Rhode Island is already under construction.<\/p>\n In New York, the state said last month it would negotiate a contract with \u00d8rsted and Eversource for an even larger wind farm, Sunrise Wind, to power 600,000 homes. The Norwegian company Equinor was picked for its Empire Wind 1 project to power more than 500,000 New York homes. Both aim to start providing power in 2026.<\/p>\n After years of planning and development, 2024 is a year of action\u2014 building projects that will deliver sizeable amounts of clean power to the grid, said David Hardy, group executive vice president and CEO Americas at \u00d8rsted.<\/p>\n \u00d8rsted, formerly DONG Energy, for Danish Oil and Natural Gas,\u00a0started aggressively building wind farms<\/a>\u00a0off the coast of Denmark, the U.K. and Germany in 2008. The company sold off the North Sea oil and gas assets on which it had built its identity to focus on clean energy, becoming \u00d8rsted. It\u2019s now one of the biggest wind power developers.<\/p>\n The first U.S. offshore wind farm was supposed to be a project off the coast of Massachusetts known as Cape Wind. A Massachusetts developer proposed the project in 2001. It failed after years of local opposition and litigation.<\/p>\n Turbines began spinning off Rhode Island\u2019s Block Island as a pilot project in 2016. But with just five of them, it\u2019s not a commercial-scale wind farm.<\/p>\n Last year brought challenges<\/a>\u00a0for the nascent U.S. offshore wind industry, as \u00d8rsted and other developers canceled projects in the Northeast that they said were no longer financially feasible. High inflation, supply chain disruptions and the rising cost of capital and building materials were making projects more expensive as developers were trying to get the first large U.S. offshore wind farms opened.<\/p>\n Industry leaders expect 2024 to be a better year, as interest rates come down and states ask for more offshore wind to meet their climate goals.<\/p>\n The nation\u2019s second large offshore wind farm, Vineyard Wind, is expected to open later this year off the coast of Massachusetts, too.\u00a0The first five turbines are providing power<\/a>\u00a0for about 30,000 homes and businesses in Massachusetts. When all 62 turbines are spinning, they\u2019ll generate enough electricity for 400,000 homes and businesses. Avangrid and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners are the joint owners of that project.<\/p>\n The Biden administration wants enough offshore wind energy to power 10 million homes by 2030. Interior Secretary Haaland said that \u201cAmerica\u2019s clean energy transition is not a dream for a distant future\u2014 it\u2019s happening right here and right now.\u201d<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n The Associated Press\u2019 climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP\u2019s\u00a0standards<\/a>\u00a0for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at\u00a0AP.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\nSubscribe to the new Fortune CEO Weekly Europe newsletter to get corner office insights on the biggest business stories in Europe. Sign up<\/a> for free.<\/div>\n