RWE-National Grid and Orsted bid over 4GW of offshore wind into New York’s Round 5

The joint venture of RWE and National Grid, and Danish developer Orsted, pitched finalised versions of their proposals into New York’s offshore wind Round 5 (NY5) on Friday, the deadline for price submissions.

RWE-National Grid’s Community Offshore Wind proposal for 2.8GW would be the largest US project every procured and likely max out the capacity of the 126,000-acre (510 sq. km) lease in the New York Bight wind energy area (WEA).

“This large-scale offshore wind proposal offers an exceptional opportunity for New York to dramatically expand its clean energy capacity while simultaneously creating new economic opportunities for families and workers across the state,” said Doug Perkins, president and project director for Community Offshore Wind.

The JV paid $1.1bn for the acreage in 2022’s record-setting Bight auction, the most ever for a US offshore wind lease.

Orsted is pitching its 1.48GW Long Island Wind proposal on a lease located 43 miles (69km) east of Montauk, Long Island’s easternmost point, which it bought a decade ago for $281,285.

The developer is currently installing the 704MW Revolution project split between Connecticut and Rhode Island on an adjacent lease in the Rhode Island-Massachusetts WEA.

Orsted is already operating the 132MW South Fork Wind project in the same WEA, the nation’s first completed offshore wind array, and has begun onshore construction activities on the nearby 920MW Sunrise.

“We are ready to build on this momentum with our new Long Island Wind project, creating thousands of high-quality jobs from Long Island to the Capital Region, driving significant investment in the supply chain and workforce, and propelling New York toward its ambitious clean energy goals,” said David Hardy, CEO Americas at Orsted.

Four developers in total have submitted into NY5 that closed 9 September, including Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners’ US subsidiary Vineyard Offshore, which pitched its 1.3GW Excelsior array.

A consortium of TotalEnergies, Corio, and local utility Rise Light & Power also bid its 1.27GW Attentive Energy 1 project.

Orsted is the only bidder whose proposal isn’t built on a project that had already been selected in the state’s 4GW Round 3 last year that was later voided following a dispute with turbine supplier GE Vernova.

The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (Nyserda), the regulator managing the state’s energy transition, “has not set a procurement target” for the round, it said, although previously it had identified at least 2.6GW.

New York has had the most turbulent sector development in the US, with some 8GW of capacity procured and then cancelled over the past few years.

The state currently has 1.8GW under contract, mostly to Nyserda but with South Fork contracted to Long Island Power Authority, towards its 9GW by 2035 mandate.