Empire Wind will characteristic as much as 147 Vestas V236-15.0 MW wind turbine mills. [Image: Vestas]
Another main U.S. offshore wind challenge has handed a regulatory milestone. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) yesterday launched its Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the proposed Empire Wind challenge offshore New York. This places the two,076 MW Equinor and BP challenge one step nearer to its aim of delivering energy by the mid-2020s.
“BOEM continues to drive significant progress to meet the Biden-Harris administration’s ambitious climate goals, and our commitment to advance offshore wind is keeping pace with our commitment to do this right,” mentioned BOEM Director Amanda Lefton. “As we expeditiously review offshore wind projects, BOEM remains committed to fully analyze impacts with an emphasis on avoidance, minimization, and if needed, mitigation, and will continue to engage with tribal nations, stakeholders, and ocean users.”
The Empire Wind DEIS can be found on BOEM’s website, and the Notice of Availability for the DEIS will publish within the Federal Register on Nov. 18, which is able to open a 60-day public remark interval that ends at 11:59 p.m. ET on Jan. 17, 2023. The enter obtained by way of this course of will inform preparation of the Final EIS.
The Empire Wind proposal contains as much as 147 offshore wind turbine mills, two offshore substations, two offshore electrical cable routes, as much as three export cable landfall websites, as much as three onshore electrical cable routes, and two onshore substations, offering connection to the prevailing electrical grid in Brooklyn and Long Beach, New York. The DEIS analyzes the potential environmental impacts of the challenge as described within the challenge construction and operation plan COP.
