LIPA, Con Edison plan wind farm off the Rockaways

A year after nixing an offshore wind farm near Jones Beach, the Long Island Power Authority will explore a new, larger proposal with Con Edison for a field of up to 100 turbines off the coast of Queens.

LIPA chief executive Kevin Law today is expected to announce the formation of a working group with Con Ed to study the feasibility of a “significant” wind farm, possibly 10 miles off the Rockaways. If the two utilities can agree on a plan, they will draw up a request for proposals, perhaps early next year.

Law emphasized that any plan would have to be economically feasible. LIPA’s financial picture already includes tentative plans to overhaul old fossil-fuel plants and take on the state’s largest solar energy project, on top of a $6.6 billion debtload.

The decision to explore a new offshore wind proposal was an outgrowth of Law’s participation in Gov. David A. Paterson’s renewable energy task force, which recommended introducing wind power to the downstate region. Numerous land-based turbine farms dot upstate, Law noted, but few avenues exist to transmit upstate wind power downstate.

Paterson, in a statement yesterday, said the project “has the ability to bring investments in clean and renewable energy technologies and create clean-tech ‘green collar’ jobs” as demand for energy increases at “alarming” rates.

“The partnership between LIPA and Con Ed could provide New Yorkers with a cleaner, brighter future, and I look forward to the conclusion of this project,” Paterson said.

The plan is expected to benefit from a decision to erect the 450-foot-high wind turbines 10 miles out to sea — farther than the 3.5 to 5-mile location of the torpedoed Jones Beach project, which was to have been built by FPL Energy. The energy capacity for the newly proposed wind farm would be 300 megawatts, double that of the FPL plan.

LIPA and Con Ed, which both operate in Queens, will share energy from the project and divide the costs. Cost sharing would help address a price tag that one government analyst yesterday estimated could be $1.5 billion.

Joe Petta, a spokesman for Con Ed, confirmed the company agreed to form a working group with LIPA. He noted it’s the first time Con Ed has explored a wind-energy proposal.

While a specific location has yet to be studied, including such factors as wind velocity, water depth and shipping lanes, Law said the Rockaways could be a suitable site. It’s unclear whether the turbines would be visible at 10 miles.

Law said he met earlier this month with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg to brief him on his plan. Bloomberg has been a proponent of wind energy based in the city, but some have criticized his plans for turbines on rooftops and other such locations.

Whether the project can be done economically remains to be seen. The Jones Beach wind farm ultimately suffered from ballooning cost estimates. Originally estimated at $150 million to $200 million, the price tag for the project’s 40 turbines and an interconnection system eventually topped $800 million. Raw material costs have only risen since then, said Dorian Dale, energy director at Babylon Town, which studied, and opposed, the Jones Beach project.

But Law suggested that the sharing of the costs, the greater political appetite for energy independence, and possible government support through renewable energy programs could make a Queens-based project more appealing.

By Mark Harrington

Newsday

23 September 2008

Tags: Wind power, Wind energy

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