Offshore Wind Wire

By William Morgan

The New York Power Authority announced today that it will pursue a submerged land lease from the Federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management on behalf of the Long Island–New York City Offshore Wind Collaborative.

Power authority trustees approved the lease application to develop the Long Island-New York City Offshore Wind Project.  Officials are hoping to develop as much as 700 megawatts of offshore wind capacity 13 miles off the Rockaway Peninsula, a part of Long Island located in New York City.

The Long Island–New York City Offshore Wind Collaborative, which is developing the project, includes the power authority, Con Edison and several government entities.

“We must develop renewable sources of electricity,” said New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.  “Beginning the process of leasing the land beneath the ocean will get us closer to developing power from Long Island-New York City offshore wind farm, which when built, will reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and promote economic development.”

The intended lease site includes approximately 64,500 acres of underwater land.  The application fee is $16,000 and, if the lease is awarded, the annual payments are expected to be about $200,000.

Last December, the Collaborative said that it would seek proposals from developers in the spring of 2010.  In a press release today, the Collaborative said only that it is “undertaking technical and environmental studies to determine the feasibility of developing the project” and will eventually “assign its lease rights to the project developer, selected through a competitive process.”