South Fork Wind completes construction offshore of New York

Governor Kathy Hochul today, alongside the United States Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland and other elected officials, announced the completion of the landmark South Fork Wind project, with all 12 offshore wind turbines constructed and the wind farm successfully delivering power to Long Island and the Rockaways. 

All 12 of South Fork Wind’s turbines are installed and the wind farm is delivering clean power to the local Long Island electric grid, with commissioning in its final stage. At full capacity, the approximately 130-megawatt wind farm will generate enough renewable energy to power approximately 70,000 homes. The renewable energy is generated roughly 35 miles off the coast of Montauk, and will eliminate up to six million tons of carbon emissions over the life of the project, the equivalent of taking 60,000 cars off the road for the next twenty years.

First approved by the Long Island Power Authority (LIPA) Board of Trustees in 2017, South Fork Wind began construction in February 2022, beginning with the onshore export cable system that links the project to the Long Island electric grid. The wind farm reached its “steel in the water” milestone in June 2023 with the installation of the project’s first monopile foundation, and its final turbine was installed in February.

South Fork Wind’s successful completion supports progress toward New York’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act requirements to achieve 70 percent renewable energy by 2030 and install nine gigawatts of offshore wind by 2035. This milestone follows Governor Hochul’s recent announcement of two offshore wind project awards, Empire Wind I and Sunrise Wind, for over 1,730 megawatts and $2 billion in near-term economic development investments.

Hundreds of U.S. workers and three Northeast ports supported South Fork Wind’s construction, helping to stand up the foundations of a new domestic supply chain that’s creating local union jobs across the Northeast and beyond.

South Fork Wind’s turbines were staged and assembled by local union workers at State Pier in New London, Connecticut. The project’s advanced foundation components were completed by local union workers at Ørsted and Eversource’s fabrication hub at ProvPort, in Rhode Island. Its crew vessels and crew change helicopter is based out of Quonset Point, Rhode Island. South Fork Wind includes the first U.S.-built offshore wind substation, built by more than 350 U.S. workers across three states, with New York union workers supporting its installation offshore.

Long Island-based contractor Haugland Energy Group LLC (an affiliate of Haugland Group LLC), installed the underground duct bank system for South Fork Wind’s onshore transmission line and led the construction of the project’s onshore interconnection facility. LS Cable installed and jointed the onshore cables with support from Long Island’s Elecnor Hawkeye. The onshore cable scope of work alone created more than 100 union jobs for Long Island skilled trades workers. Roman Stone, also on Long Island, manufactured concrete mattresses to protect the undersea cables, and Ljungstrom, located in western New York, in partnership with Riggs Distler & Company, Inc., provided specialized structural steelwork.