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New York’s embattled offshore wind industry has suffered a series of blows to projects and infrastructure, but one effort enjoying a tailwind is a city-backed plan to convert a Brooklyn marine terminal into a sprawling manufacturing hub.
Sustainable South Brooklyn Marine Terminal, L.P., the leaseholder of the city-owned South Brooklyn Marine Terminal in Sunset Park, has awarded global construction firm Skanska a $861-million contract to transform the waterfront site into a renewable manufacturing complex that will serve as the operations and maintenance hub for Empire Wind 1 — a wind farm planned for waters near Long Island by Norwegian energy giant Equinor — and support the offshore wind industry’s broader buildout.
The 73-acre site will be used in the assembly of roughly 130 hulking wind turbines for Empire Wind 1 that will eventually churn to life some 15 miles off of Long Beach. Before that can occur, roughly half a dozen Walmart-sized warehouse buildings must be razed and underground utility work must be laid to prime the site for a production platform, according to Sohil Patel, the project executive for South Brooklyn Marine Terminal at Skanska.
“The bulk of the site is an upgrade of the structural elements,” Patel said in an interview. “It’s paved areas that will be used to stage all the components for the wind turbines, and there will be two big crane pads that will be used to assemble the components and then take it offshore.”
A slew of marine upgrades will need to take place, including the buildout of a new wharf and dock facilities. Crews will also need to dredge the waters surrounding the port, likely beginning this summer, to ensure large vessels can access the terminal, said Patel.
“The existing seabed is at a certain elevation and is not deep enough for vessels to come to the land,” said Patel. “So, basically, the dredging creates a higher depth.”
Once the Empire Wind farm is operational, which is expected in late 2026, the marine terminal will also serve as an interconnection site to plug in power from the 810 megawatt development to New York’s electric grid. The energy is meant to support the state’s goal of producing 70% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030, a target that has been jeopardized by the collapse of state contracts for three other offshore wind farms earlier this month.
The New York State Research and Development Authority still has contracts pending for Empire Wind 1 and the 924-megawatt Sunrise Wind, developed by Ørsted and Eversource off the northeast tip of Long Island. Both projects were reawarded by the state earlier this year at higher costs for ratepayers due to inflation and supply-chain struggles.
Equinor previously had a contract with NYSERDA to also build the 1,260-megawatt Empire Wind 2, but the company pulled its contract to “reset and develop a stronger and more robust project” in the wake of rising costs. The project’s loss was a notable setback to achieving New York’s ambitious green energy targets.
During a March event announcing that Empire Wind 1 signed a project labor agreement for the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal, Molly Morris, president of Equinor Renewables Americas, put a rosy spin on the company’s investments in the city and state.
“We always knew this project was more than just renewable energy,” said Morris. “It’s about workforce development and it’s about investing in the New York economy.”
The South Brooklyn Marine Terminal is the crown jewel in the city’s efforts to leverage city assets in the development of offshore wind infrastructure. New York City Economic Development Corp. officials are overseeing a 15-year, $191 million vision, unveiled in 2021 at the end of former Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration, to grow offshore wind manufacturing and build its workforce across the five boroughs.
In 2018, the city awarded Sustainable South Brooklyn Marine Terminal, L.P. — a partnership between Industry City and Red Hook Terminals — a lease to reactivate the once defunct shipping hub. SSBMT entered into a sublease with Equinor in 2022 until 2054 for its operations and maintenance base at the site, along with an onshore substation.
Under the same agreement, Equinor has a 10-year term for turbine staging and installation activities with an option to extend the 10-year period for up to six more years.
Skanska’s efforts to upgrade the terminal are expected to be complete by the third quarter of 2026, said Patel.
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Caroline Spivack , 2024-04-29 22:41:47
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