Deepwater Wind announced its commitment to partnering with the Nassau-Suffolk Building and Construction Trades Council and the Long Island Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, to develop a local offshore wind industry, including the creation of jobs on Long Island to support development and construction of its Deepwater ONE offshore wind farm.
If approved by local regulators later this year, Deepwater ONE would result in approximately 300 direct jobs each year on Long Island throughout the project’s construction, as well as a significant number of jobs during the project’s preconstruction phase. Local hiring could start as early as 2015 and accelerate over the development of the project.
“We’re delighted to be partnering with the Building Trades and Long Island Federation of Labor to develop the skilled trades, supply chain and facilities here on Long Island to serve the growing offshore wind industry,” Deepwater Wind CEO Jeffrey Grybowski said. “From engineers to construction workers, our first project would mean a wide range of new jobs for several hundred Long Islanders. We’re anxious to move forward on this path-breaking project.”
Deepwater Wind has pledged to build the Long Island portions of Deepwater ONE under agreements with the Long Island Federation of Labor and the Building and Construction Trades Council of Nassau & Suffolk Counties. In addition, Deepwater Wind is committed to working with Long Island-based contractors to develop a local supply chain and position Long Island as an offshore wind industry hub.
As part of a proposal currently under review by the Long Island Power Authority, Deepwater Wind is proposing supplying Long Island with more than 200 megawatts of renewable energy from Deepwater ONE. Construction could begin as early as 2017, with commercial operations by 2018.
At approximately 30 miles east of Montauk, N.Y., the wind farm will be “over the horizon,” and not visible from any point on Long Island. All transmission cables will be buried deep below existing roads and under shoreline features, with no overhead cables or poles.
Deepwater Wind in July 2013 won the 30-year lease to develop the Deepwater ONE project in federal waters on the Outer Continental Shelf. The U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM)’s first-ever competitive lease auction for offshore wind covered two parcels, totaling approximately 256 square miles in the Atlantic Ocean 30 miles east of Montauk.