Area ports aid in wind projects

Albany

Two Capital Region ports will play supporting roles in an ambitious project to build two massive wind farms off the New York and New Jersey coasts. Developers plan to fabricate and in some cases assemble components that would then be shipped to the construction sites.

Stavanger, Norway-based Equinor plans an 816-megawatt Empire Wind project that is expected to cost about $3 billion on an 80,000-acre site in the Atlantic 15 to 30 miles southeast of Long Island. Much of the assembly work would take place at the Port of Coeymans.

Fredericia, Denmark-based Ørsted and Hartford, Conn.-based Ever-source Energy are teaming up on the 880-megawatt Sunrise Wind project 30 miles east of Montauk Point, near two other offshore wind farms Ørsted and Equinor are developing. Turbines would be supplied by Siemens Gamesa.

A cost estimate for the Sunrise Wind project wasn’t available. It plans to fabricate secondary steel pieces, such as ladders and decking that would be attached to the foundation pieces, at Capital Region ports, said Fred Zalcman, head of government affairs in the U.S. for Ørsted.

Empire Wind, meanwhile, “plans to manufacture gravity-based foundation facility at the Port of Coeymans,” according to the New York Energy Research and Development Authority.

The projects are part of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s effort to have 70 percent of electricity come from renewable sources by 2030, and for electric generation to have zero emissions by 2040.

The Sunrise Wind project partners said they’d invest $11 million in port infrastructure upgrades throughout the state, although not all of that would be in the Capital Region.

NYSERDA, which is working closely with the two wind project developers, said Empire Wind was proposing to invest $60 million in port upgrades statewide, including the Port of Coeymans, Homeport Pier on Staten Island and South Brooklyn Marine Terminal.

NYSERDA said Sunrise Wind proposed investing $20 million across New York, including the Capital Region, Port Jefferson and Staten Island.

The Port of Albany has had more than a decade of experience in handling wind energy components, including lengthy turbine blades as well as nacelles — which house the electric generating equipment — and other components.

On Tuesday, nacelles manufactured by General Electric Co. filled a yard at the Port of Albany, destined for a wind project in Pennsylvania. They’d arrived earlier by rail from GE’s plant in Pensacola, Fla.

The Port of Albany has already purchased 80 acres of property in the town of Bethlehem that would be used as a staging area for the offshore turbine equipment.

Rich Hendrick, CEO of the Albany Port District Commission, said construction on the staging site will begin next year, and that the wind farm components would be produced and shipped in 2021 or 2022.

The wind farms are expected to begin producing electricity by 2024.

While NYSERDA didn’t have a jobs breakdown, it estimated the two projects would create 1,600 jobs. The Sunrise Wind project committed to creating up to 100 jobs in Port Jefferson, where it would establish an operations and maintenance hub. Equinor, which is developing the Empire Wind project, couldn’t be reached for comment.

Hendrick wasn’t willing to estimate how many jobs might be created locally. “I’d be guessing,” he said Tuesday.

He does expect the two rival ports to cooperate in the wind farm projects.

“I received a call today from Carver, wanting to get together,” he said, referring to Carver Laraway, who operates the Port of Coeymans. “This work is bigger than one facility can handle.

“It has to be a regional effort,” Hendrick said.

When Cuomo signed the agreement for the offshore projects last Thursday, he said the 1,700 megawatts they’d generate would be enough to power 1 million homes, and create 1,600 jobs. Cuomo, joined by former Vice President Al Gore, also signed the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act that set goals on emissions and energy efficiency to address climate change.

. eanderson@timesunion com • 518-454-5323