South Fork: A Positive Turn for U.S. Offshore Wind

South Fork Wind, the first commercial-scale offshore wind project to come online in the U.S., and New York’s first offshore wind farm, marks a milestone for the industry’s future in America.

The U.S. offshore wind industry has moved in fits and starts. Delays caused by regulatory agencies, and a changing political climate, have slowed development of some projects and brought uncertainty to the industry as a whole.

That’s why offshore wind proponents, and clean energy advocates, agree that success stories should be celebrated. Such is the case with South Fork Wind, which earlier this year became the first U.S. commercial-scale offshore wind project to come online. It’s a milestone for U.S. offshore wind and a major step forward for the future of such projects off American shores, making it worthy of recognition as a POWER Top Plant.

“South Fork Wind marks the beginning of a new era in American offshore wind—the first commercial-scale offshore wind farm in U.S. history. The project set a new standard for offshore wind energy generation, with its 12 turbines providing enough clean energy to power roughly 70,000 New York homes,” said Brennan Guldner, asset manager of South Fork Wind. “Construction of South Fork Wind involved over 170 contracts with suppliers across 19 states, catalyzing nearly $1 billion in private investment and jump-starting a nationwide offshore wind supply chain. South Fork Wind is proof of the significant environmental and economic benefits of commercial-scale offshore wind and is a model for other large projects currently in development, including the Revolution Wind project in Rhode Island and Connecticut, and the Sunrise Wind project in New York.”

Sited Off the U.S. Northeast Coast

South Fork, a 132-MW installation that came online in March of this year, is located about 19 miles southeast of Block Island, Rhode Island—home to the first U.S. offshore wind farm, a small, 30-MW installation that has operated since December 2016. South Fork is about 35 miles east of Montauk Point, New York, in waters ranging from 108 to 135 feet deep. An underwater transmission line connects the project to the local power grid in East Hampton, New York.

The project was built as a joint venture between Ørsted and Eversource Energy, though Eversource is in the process of finalizing the sale of its stake to Global Infrastructure Partners, a New York City-based investment fund. South Fork Wind features a dozen Siemens Gamesa (SG) 11.0-200 DD wind turbines, installed in a grid and spaced just more than one mile apart. The SG turbines, each with 11 MW of generation capacity, feature 656-feet-diameter rotors and 318-feet-long blades, with a swept area of 337,987 ft ².

The turbines have direct drive technology and use a permanent magnet generator. Each turbine also is equipped with a high wind ride-through, or HWRT, system that can shut down the turbine to help protect components when wind speeds are higher than 82 feet per second.

“Eversource is committed to helping lead our country’s clean energy transition by working closely with renewable energy developers to interconnect their projects to our transmission system, as well as ensuring the electric grid is resilient and can handle the increase in power demand driven by electrification,” said Bill Quinlan, president of Transmission and Offshore Wind Projects at Eversource Energy. “We’re already putting Americans to work building the onshore infrastructure that brings offshore wind energy to our homes and businesses. South Fork Wind was made possible by hundreds of union workers and contractors building the transmission system and onshore substation, as well as millions in investments in Rhode Island’s ProvPort and Connecticut’s State Pier. This project serves as a model for our work across the region and we are already capitalizing on these investments and the region’s talented workforce on additional projects currently in development, such as the Cape Cod Solution multi-phase transmission program to increase the reliability of the Cape’s transmission system and interconnect offshore wind.”

Completion of construction of all 12 turbines of the wind farm was announced on March 14 of this year. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, along with Interior Secretary Deb Haaland and other dignitaries, highlighted the historic significance of the wind farm’s delivery of power to Long Island and the Rockaways.

“When I broke ground on the South Fork project, I made a promise to build a cleaner, greener future for all New Yorkers,” Hochul said. South Fork Wind announced the financial investment decision (FID) for the project in February 2022 and started onshore construction in the same month.

Said Hochul, “I’m keeping to that promise and South Fork Wind is now delivering clean energy to tens of thousands of homes and businesses on Long Island. With more projects in the pipeline, this is just the beginning of New York’s offshore wind future and I look forward to continued partnership with the Biden administration and local leaders to build a clean and resilient energy grid.”

Several Companies Involved in Construction

Among the companies participating in South Fork Wind’s construction were Haugland Energy Group, Elecnor Hawkeye, and Roman Stone. Those groups built much of the project’s infrastructure, including an onshore substation and the underground transmission system. Riggs Distler was a Tier 1 supplier for South Fork, providing onshore construction, assembly, and inspection of advanced foundation components. Kiewit Offshore Services designed and built the offshore substation; Ramboll collaborated with Kiewit on the front-end engineering design, and detailed design of the high-voltage alternating-current offshore substation.

1. This Bokalift vessel, part of the fleet operated by Boskalis, a Dutch company, helped move components for the foundations and offshore substation for South Fork Wind. The vessels can be used for transportation and installation of jackets and monopiles for offshore wind turbines. Courtesy: South Fork Wind

Hellenic Cables was commissioned for the design, manufacture, supply, testing, and termination of many of the 66-kV cross-linked polyethylene-insulated subsea inter-array cables and associated accessories. Boskalis was contracted to transport and install the foundations and offshore substation (Figure 1), and Van Oord was chosen for the transport and installation of the wind turbines. Other companies involved in the project include VHB, Mott MacDonald, Stantec, Sea Services North America, and HeliService International.

The project features components manufactured and assembled in several states. For example, the offshore substation was built in Texas, its export cable was made in South Carolina, and foundation components came from Rhode Island. Assembly of many parts took place in Connecticut.

Guldner told POWER: “The Northeast is a priority market for Ørsted, and South Fork Wind has paved the way for success at our next projects in the region. From investments in port infrastructure, to workforce training programs with universities and governments, to the growing local supply chain, our partnerships have helped make this region an offshore wind powerhouse. We see 2024 as a year of action for offshore wind, and South Fork Wind is a prime example.”

Project Approved in 2017

The project was initially approved by the Long Island Power Authority Board of Trustees in 2017. Construction began in February 2022, and started with the onshore export cable system that links the project to the Long Island electric grid. The first monopile foundation—what the industry calls “steel in the water”—was installed in June 2023. The final turbine was placed in February of this year.

“The global offshore wind industry faced macroeconomic challenges in 2023, but our work on South Fork Wind continued and we were able to achieve first power at the end of that year—a true turning point for America’s offshore wind industry,” said Guldner.

South Fork Wind’s turbines were staged and assembled at State Pier in New London, Connecticut. Foundation components were completed at the Ørsted and Eversource fabrication hub at ProvPort in Rhode Island. The project’s crew vessels and crew change helicopter are based out of Quonset Point, Rhode Island.

“South Fork Wind was made possible by local labor, local suppliers, and local buy-in from community leaders and elected officials at all levels,” said Guldner. “We are proud that our partnerships and investments helped build a talented pipeline of workers and businesses excited to be a part of this historic project, and in doing so, we helped make South Fork Wind a true source of pride for Long Islanders and all New Yorkers.”

—Darrell Proctor is a senior editor for POWER.