US utility plans 3.9GW New York offshore wind transmission project

It plans to use multiple sets of high-voltage direct current (HVDC) cables to bring onshore up to 3.9GW of offshore wind power from the Atlantic Ocean. The electricity would feed into the grid at the site of its near-2.5GW Ravenswood power plant in New York City.

Rise Light & Power – a subsidiary of utility LS Power – also plans to transform the 0.1km2 waterfront industrial site at the Ravenswood plant into a “renewable energy hub”.

The company has spent two years carrying out surveys to determine the safest and most efficient location for the transmission project’s buried cables and claims it is now ready to start the permitting process.

Clint Plummer, CEO of Rise Light & Power said: “We can leverage our existing infrastructure and waterfront location to deliver a low-cost, low-risk offshore wind transmission system.”

Its announcement follows New York’s governor opening a 2GW offshore wind tender, due to be concluded later this year.

New York aims to have 9GW of offshore wind capacity by 2035, and has already contracted 4.2GW of offshore wind across two previous tender rounds.