Empire Wind: Statoil names its New York offshore project

Empire Wind is the project name chosen by Statoil for the company’s offshore wind site located off the southern coast of Long Island, New York. The 79350 acre site, secured by Statoil in a federal auction in December 2016, has the potential to generate up to 1 GW of offshore wind power, making it a key part of New York State’s plan to deploy renewable energy sources to meet the state’s electricity needs.

New York’s Clean Energy Standard mandates an increase in the share of renewables in its energy mix to 50% by 2030. As part of that effort, governor Andrew Cuomo recently called for the development of up to 2.4 GW of offshore wind power by 2030.

Statoil (in which the government of Norway has a 67% share) currently has seven offshore wind projects online or under development in Europe, including the world’s first floating offshore wind project, in Scotland (see MPS November 2017, pp11-12) — a technology which “could prove pivotal” in generating offshore wind power for the US west coast and Hawaii, the company says.