Tag Archives: renewable energy

The First Turbine of the South Fork Wind Farm is Spinning!

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Yesterday, Dec. 7th 2023, we visited the newly operational first turbine of the South Fork Wind Farm. It is also a first for New York State. It was an amazing event covered by news reporters from Reuters, CBS, NY Times, Newsday, East Hampton Star and more, with State officials from Albany, and local political figures from East Hampton and Long Island, also including NYSERDA, LIPA, PSEG, etc.,.  Jen Garvey of Orsted ran the show, competent as always.

The star of the event was the first operational turbine which is already transmitting electricity to East Hampton!  As Judith Hope puts it:

We celebrated “First Power” today when the first wind turbine, 35 files off the Montauk coast, was turned on and began transmitting electricity to the Cove Hollow substation!  Eleven more turbines are on the way and together they will provide electric power to 70,000 South Fork homes. It was so satisfying to come home tonight and to hit the light switch knowing that it is even partially fueled by our own offshore wind. Very soon, the South Fork Wind Farm will be entirely powering our homes. Happy Holidays!
Judith 

There follows a ‘slide show’ from our visit to the wind farm aboard our vessel, the “Julia Leigh.”  Missing is a picture of an uninvited guest spouting off: a whale just about 100 yards from our ship, swimming among the wind turbines and construction vessels, and joining the party, in celebration it seems!

To understand the construction site for the wind farm, I found this quite useful:

HOW TO BUILD AN OFFSHORE WIND FARM

(1) The first operational wind turbine:

(2) Concrete foundation for a future turbine.  Penetrates the sea bed floor about 60 feet:

(3) A “lift boat”.  A platform from which the turbine and blades are mounted onto the foundation. The 3 blades are visible on the platform waiting to be mounted next.   

(4) The “switch station”: this is where the electricity from the turbines is transformed to a higher voltage and then loaded on to the cable which runs along the sea bed and eventually makes landfall in Wainscott.  Also shown is a transport vessel for construction material from the mainland supply port. It can house 40 construction workers who spend 2-week shifts working on the wind farm.

(5) The crowd watching from our boat!

(6) The wind farm construction site from a distance:

Offshore wind project in jeopardy?

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Submit a Comment to Show Your Support for the South Fork Wind Farm!

Take action!

As the per the Sierra Club, the first offshore wind project in New York is in jeopardy — act today to make sure we build the clean renewable, energy we need to meet New York’s bold climate commitments. 
 
New York has made bold climate commitments to power our state with 100% clean, renewable energy by 2040. The South Fork Wind Farm is a critical clean, renewable energy project that will help us meet this goal, but a few vocal opponents are trying to slow down renewable energy and climate progress.

You can play a role. The Public Service Commission (PSC) is collecting public comments. Let Governor Cuomo and the PSC know we must get this first offshore wind project built to lay the groundwork for future wind projects and to meet our bold climate and clean energy goals.