Hjelmsted Consulting and NIRAS will act as strategic advisors to the State of New York to secure that a significant part of the state’s electric supply will come from offshore wind in 2030.
The two companies said they are among the first European advisors to expand their consulting activities in offshore wind to North America.
They will advise NYSERDA (New York State Energy Research and Development Authority) on the planning and tendering strategy for federal offshore wind tenders for sites off the American east coast.
The contract also includes evaluation and development of the State’s Master Plan for offshore wind, for which NYSERDA is also responsible.
Pernille Skyt , market director at NIRAS, said: “We are confident that NIRAS in collaboration with Hjelmsted Consulting will provide an extremely valuable contribution to the development of offshore wind in New York by transferring the Danish and European experience in this field to the United States.
“We will be able to support NYSERDA in making a strong strategy and planning which can provide basis for low prices on electricity from offshore wind farms, among other things by helping to minimize risks and ensure security for developers before the tendering-process starts for establishing the wind farms. We will seek to make it attractive for developers to build offshore wind parks, while taking fully into account the environment and the many stakeholders.”
The draft Master Plan has recently been published, with New York State initially focusing on developing a 320km² area off Long Island and eventually a much larger sea area.