Sunrise Wind Farm is a planned 924MW utility-scale offshore wind project in New York, the US. The wind farm is set to be the first offshore wind project in the US to use high-voltage direct current (HVDC) technology.
The project is owned equally by joint venture partners Ørsted Offshore North America and Eversource Energy.
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The partners are investing $400m in New York State to develop Sunrise Wind. The construction and initial operation phase of the wind farm will create up to 800 direct jobs.
Onshore construction is planned to start in mid-2023 and the project is expected to be completed by the end of 2025, subject to the US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM)’s Notice of Intent (NOI) schedule.
Once operational, the offshore wind farm will provide clean power to around 600,000 New York homes and support the state’s transition to 100% clean electricity by 2040.
Sunrise Wind Location
The Sunrise Wind Farm will be located offshore New York, around 30 miles east of Montauk Point State Park on Long Island.
The Sunrise Wind Lease Area (OCS-A 0487) includes approximately 35,136 hectares in federal waters approximately 18.9 statute miles or 30.4km south of Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts.
Background Details
In October 2019, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) finalised contracts for two offshore wind projects including Sunrise Wind. The move was part of the plan to advance New York’s offshore wind goals and aligned with the 2015 State Energy Plan.
Deepwater Wind New England assigned Lease OCS-A 0487 to Sunrise Wind in August 2020.
In September 2020, Sunrise Wind submitted a Construction and Operations Plan (COP) to BOEM seeking approval to construct the offshore wind farm.
BOEM published a Notice of Intent (NOI) to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Sunrise Wind project in August 2021. The draft EIS was made available in December 2022.
The New York State Public Service Commission (NYSPSC) issued Sunrise Wind a Certificate of Environmental Compatibility and Public Need (CECPN) for the project in November 2022.
In the same month, the New York Public Service Commission approved the project’s underground transmission route that will transmit electricity from the wind farm to the existing Long Island electrical grid via a 124-mile submarine export cable.
Sunrise Wind Project Infrastructure
The Sunrise Wind Farm will include up to 122 offshore wind turbines and associated foundations, an offshore converter station (OCS-DC), associated inter-array cables, and an onshore converter station (OnCS-DC).
The project infrastructure will also include an offshore export cable stretching from the site to the landfall point on Long Island, New York, in the Town of Brookhaven; and an onshore interconnection cable connecting to the Long Island Power Authority (LIPA) Holbrook Substation.
Sunrise will use Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy’s SG 8.0-167 DD offshore wind turbines. Each wind turbine has a rated capacity of 8MW and a rotor with a 167m diameter.
Each of these turbines will utilise 81.4m-long SGRE B81 blades and will have a swept area of 21,900m2.
Power Transmission
The 124-mile-long offshore export cable connecting the wind farm to the landfall point would be buried below the seabed in federal and New York State waters.
The offshore converter station will receive the 66kV alternating current (AC) power generated by the wind turbines through an inter-array cable system and then convert it to 320kV DC for transmission through the export cable to the onshore converter station.
The onshore transmission cable will connect to the landfall point at Fire Island in Shirley, New York, and connect to an interconnection point at the Holbrook substation via an 18-mile route.
The onshore station will convert the electricity back to AC and transmit it to the distribution grid.
Contractors Involved
In July 2019, Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy (SGRE) received a conditional contract to deliver offshore wind turbines for Sunrise Wind project.
Geo-data specialist Fugro was contracted to perform a site characterisation programme for the project.
In October 2021, Siemens Energy, in consortium with Aker Solutions, won the contract to supply the HVDC transmission system for the 924MW Sunrise Wind Farm.
In April 2023, Haugland Energy Group was contracted to install the underground duct bank system for the project’s onshore transmission line.
In August 2023, engineering and professional services consultancy WSP USA was selected as the professional engineer for the offshore HVDC converter platform for the wind farm. WSP will also provide engineering services to Aker Solutions to assist in the design of the HVDC platform.
Aker Solutions is responsible for the platform development consisting of a steel jacket substructure, and a topside platform deck that will contain the electrical equipment.
Dominion Energy’s offshore wind turbine installation vessel Charybdis will be used to support the installation works of the project.
