NY offshore wind farm asks FERC to delay in-service date for 816-MW 1st phase

Developers of a proposed 2.1-GW offshore wind farm in New York asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to issue an expedited tariff waiver due to construction delays pushing back the timeline of the project's 816-MW first phase.

BP PLC and Equinor ASA subsidiary Equinor Wind US LLC, through their Empire Offshore Wind LLC joint venture, told the commission Oct. 13 that the Empire Wind project will not be able to begin commercial operations until December 2026 due to regulatory permitting and construction constraints (ER22-98).

"Empire Wind should not be required to enter into an interconnection agreement representing that the Project will achieve [a commercial operation date] in June of 2025, which Empire Wind already knows to be impossible and which is inconsistent with representations that Empire Wind has made to other authorities," the joint venture said in the filing. "At the same time, Empire Wind recognizes the importance of assuring [New York ISO] and other stakeholders that it is making reasonable progress."

Empire Wind also requested that FERC allow it to extend the commercial operation date deadline for the first phase by approximately 18 months to Dec. 14, 2026, and revise to June 14, 2025, the deadline for when its interconnection facilities are "expected to be energized" and begin service.

"The limited, prospective waiver requested in this proceeding will not adversely impact NYISO or any market participant," the partnership noted. "The project has already completed all NYISO studies required for interconnection and has posted firm security for its network upgrades, thereby ensuring that no other interconnection project will be adversely impacted by any relief granted in this case."

Empire Wind will be developed in two phases if approved by the U.S. Department of Interior's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, or BOEM. New York awarded Equinor the rights in July 2019 to develop the first 816-MW phase, and the state awarded the project rights for another 1,260 MW of capacity in January.

BOEM in June said it was preparing an environmental review of the Empire Wind project.