The South Fork wind farm is a 130MW offshore wind power project under construction by South Fork Wind, a 50:50 joint venture between Danish renewable energy company Ørsted and US-based electric utility Eversource.
The project is being developed in federal waters off the coast of Long Island in New York, US.
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The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) of the US Department of the Interior approved the project’s construction in November 2021. It granted final approval for the construction and operations plan of the wind farm in January 2022.
South Fork Wind announced the financial investment decision (FID) on the project in February 2022 and started onshore construction in the same month.
Scheduled to commence operations by the end of 2023, South Fork will be the first offshore wind farm in the state of New York. It will generate enough clean energy to power more than 70,000 US households under a long-term power purchase agreement with the Long Island Power Authority.
South Fork wind farm location and make-up
The South Fork wind power project is located 30.6km south-east of Block Island, Rhode Island, and 56.3km east of Montauk Point, New York. The water depth at the project area ranges from 33m to 41m.
The offshore wind farm will consist of 12 SG 11.0-200 DD wind turbines supplied by Siemens Gamesa. Supported by steel monopile foundations, the turbines will be installed in a grid with approximate spacing of 1.9km.
The SG 11.0-200 DD offshore wind turbine has a rated power output of 11MW. It features a 200m-diameter rotor, 97m-long blades and a swept area of 31,400m².
The turbine features direct drive technology and uses a permanent magnet generator. It is also equipped with a high wind ride through (HWRT) system that can shut down the turbine for self-protection when wind speeds are higher than 25 meters per second.
Power transmission
The electricity generated by the South Fork offshore wind farm will be transmitted directly to the East Hampton substation, located off Cove Hollow Road in East Hampton, using a single 34.5km-long 138kV alternating current (AC) transmission line.
An offshore substation will collect the power generated by the wind turbines with an inter-array cable system. The substation will use a supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system to monitor and control wind farm operations.
The offshore substation platform will house high-voltage and secondary medium-voltage power transformers, along with switchyard reactors and a small diesel generator.
Beach Lane in Wainscott has been selected as the preferred cable landing point for the 138kV transmission line from the South Fork offshore substation.
Contractors involved
Siemens Gamesa will supply the turbines for South Fork wind farm. Haugland Energy Group was contracted for the onshore transmission systems for the project in January 2022. The scope of work includes installation of the underground duct bank system as well as the onshore interconnection facility in East Hampton, New York.
Kiewit Offshore Services (Kiewit), the largest offshore fabricator in the US, was contracted to design and construct the offshore substation for the project in August 2021.
Details of the Eco Edison service operations vessel
A service operations vessel, named Eco Edison, is being constructed to support the operations and maintenance (O&M) of South Fork, as well as the Revolution and Sunrise offshore wind farms proposed to be developed in New York by the Ørsted-Eversource joint venture.
Edison Chouest Offshore (ECO), a marine transportation solutions provider based in Louisiana, began construction of the Eco Edison vessel in March 2022.
The 79.2m-long vessel will be used to transfer technicians, tools and parts to and from the wind farms.
The vessel will be powered by four Caterpillar 3512E EPA Tier 4 generator sets, each rated for 1,700ekW. It will use the General Electric (GE) Power Conversion electrical system, while its propulsion system will comprise the latest generation Voith Schneider Propellers (VSPs). Louisiana-based company Marine Technologies will provide remote monitoring and support for the vessel.
