Description
Empire Wind is a 50-50 partnership between Equinor and BP. Equinor will be the operator through the development, construction, and operations phase of the project. The staffing levels for the project will evolve over time so that, once in operation, it will be staffed equally from both BP and Equinor. Empire Wind will encompass 8,000 acres of coverage with up to 147 wind turbines and a total of 2.1GW of energy.
The project consists of two separate wind farms, Empire Wind 1 (EW 1) and Empire Wind 2 (EW 2), which are electrically isolated and independent from each other. Each wind farm will connect via offshore substations to separate Points of Interconnection (PoIs) at onshore locations by way of export cable routes and onshore substations. The project includes two onshore locations in New York where the renewable electricity generated will be transmitted to the electric grid. EW1 will make landfall with open cut, through bulkhead, or over bulkhead installation, and EW2 will make landfall with a horizontal directional drill method.
Location
Empire Wind is located 22 kilometers south of Long Island, New York, and 31.4 km east of Long Branch, New Jersey. Three onshore export cable routes have been identified, one for EW 1 and up to two for EW 2. The EW 1 cable will interface with an onshore substation in Brooklyn, New York. The EW2 cables will interface with substations in Oceanside, New York and Island Park, New York.
Licensing Information
- 2022: BOEM, Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS)
- 2017: BOEM, Awarding of Lease Area OCS-A 0512
- 2013: BOEM, Request for Interest
Project Timeline
- 2028: EW2 anticipated operation start date
- 2026: EW1 anticipated operation start date
- 2024: EW1 anticipated construction start date
- 2024: EW1 anticipated state permits approved
- 2021: Article VII submission, Environmental Policy Act Review Begins
- 2020: Permitting begins
- 2019: Power awarded by NY State
- 2018: Surveys begin
- 2017: Environmental assessments application development starts
Status updates may be found on Empire Wind's FAST-41 dashboard.
Key Environmental Issues
Empire Wind's environmental protection statement states: The offshore wind industry adheres to stringent marine mammal mitigation measures – stronger regulation than any other marine industry in the Atlantic. There is heavy vessel traffic around the populous East Coast, and particularly in the New York and New Jersey coastal area, which includes major shipping lanes and various types of large commercial freight. Offshore wind vessels make up less than 1% of that marine traffic.
Empire Wind takes action to protect marine mammals through:
- Collaboration with marine scientists – By working closely with organizations like Wildlife Conservation Society and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, the marine environment is carefully monitored using acoustic receivers to record the presence of whales. Empire Wind partners with New England Aquarium’s tracking program of highly migratory marine species.
- Implementation of sophisticated technology – Empire Wind deploys passive acoustic monitoring buoys with the Empire Wind lease area to obtain near real-time whale acoustics.
When marine wildlife are observed, the following actions are taken:
- If marine mammals are observed while a vessel is underway, the vessel must attempt to remain parallel to the animal’s course, avoid excessive speed, or abrupt changes in direction until the animal has left the area. If marine mammals are sighted within the relevant separation distance, the vessel must reduce speed and shift the engine to neutral, not engaging the engines until animals are clear of the area.
- Geophysical survey equipment must be shut down when marine mammals are observed approaching or within “Exclusion Zones” ~1,600 ft (500 m) for North Atlantic right whales or ~300 ft (100 m) for all other species).
- Independent and NMFS-approved Protected Species Observers (PSOs) on duty to enforce Exclusion Zones, document all marine mammal observations, and report to NOAA Fisheries on marine mammal observations.
- Vessel speeds reduced to 10 knots or less when mother/calf pairs, pods, or large assemblages of whales/dolphins observed near the vessel.
- Vessels must maintain a minimum separation distance of ~1,600 ft (500 m) from right whales and ~300 ft (100 m) from all other whale species.
Additionally, Equinor and BP have publicly released results of two years of detailed data of wave heights, currents, wind speeds, and wind direction collected by buoys south of Long Beach and east of Montauk, NY. Data is available here.
Metadata Documents
Environmental Papers and Reports
- Empire Offshore Wind Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) (BOEM Office of Renewable Energy Programs 2023)
- A Geospatial Analysis of Species of Interest in US Atlantic Wind Energy Areas (O'Brien 2023)
- Empire Offshore Wind Draft Environmental Impact Statement (Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) 2022)
- Empire Offshore Wind: Empire Wind Project (EW 1 and EW 2) Construction and Operations Plan (Tetra Tech Inc. 2022)
- Distribution and density of six large whale species in the New York Bight from monthly aerial surveys 2017 to 2020 (Zoidis et al. 2021)
- Year 2 Digital Aerial Wildlife Survey of BOEM Lease Area OCS-A 0512: Combined Monthly Survey Report (Year 2): February 2019-December 2019 (Arundale et al. 2021)
- Final Report for New York Bight Whale Monitoring Passive Acoustic Surveys: October 2017 - October 2020 (Estabrook et al. 2021)
- Ornithological and Marine Fauna Aerial Survey Results, Annex 1: Summer 2016 to Spring 2017 (Jervis et al. 2019)
- Ornithological and Marine Fauna Aerial Survey Results of Lease Area OCS-A 0512, Annual Report: November 2017 to October 2018 (Jervis et al. 2019)
- 2018 SAP Benthic Survey Report (Empire Wind) (Alpine Ocean Seismic Survey Inc. and Gardline Ltd. 2018)
- A Biogeographic Assessment of Seabirds, Deep Sea Corals and Ocean Habitats of the New York Bight: Science to Support Offshore Spatial Planning (Menza et al. 2012)
- Seasonal Patterns of Winter Flounder Pseudopleuronectes americanus Abundance and Reproductive Condition on the New York Bight Continental Shelf (Wuenschel et al. 2009)
Environmental Monitoring: Empire Wind
Phase | Stressor & Receptor | Design and Methods | Results | Publications | Data |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Baseline | Marine Mammals | Passive acoustic monitoring Between October 2017 and October 2020, fifteen recording devices were deployed along two transect lines spanning the New York Bight to record whale sounds and noise levels in the study area. | Complete North Atlantic right whales, fin whales, and humpback whales were detected during nearly every month. Sei, blue, and sperm whales were also detected. | Estabrook et al. 2021 | No data publicly available. |
Baseline | Physical Environment | Grab Samples In March and April 2018, Alpine Ocean Seismic Survey Inc. surveyed the lease area, with data consisting of multi-beam bathymetry, side scan sonar, magnetometer, and shallow and medium penetration sub-bottom profiler. | Complete Flat seabed, medium to coarse sand with isolated patches of gravelly sand. Water depths were recorded between 28.1m and 37.8m. Visible flora and fauna are identified. | Alpine Ocean Seismic Survey Inc. and Gardline Ltd. 2018 | No data publicly available. |
Baseline | Bats | Passive Acoustic Monitoring Monitoring was conducted in the Lease Area from May 29 to December 2, 2018, using a single bat detector station mounted near the top of a roving offshore research vessel. | Complete Detection rates were highest in early August through early November, which is consistent with migration periods for migratory tree bats. Big brown bat, Eastern Red Bat, and Silver-Haired Bat were identified. | Tetra Tech Inc. 2022 | No data publicly available. |
Baseline | Birds, Fish, Reptiles | Aerial Survey Monthly aerial digital surveys were conducted between November 2017 and October 2018 by Normandeau Associates and APEM Ltd to continue the 2016-2017 assessment of birds, fish, and reptiles. | Complete The most abundant group was gulls in Nov. and Dec. 2017, alcids in Jan., Feb., Mar., and April 2018, terns in May, Shearwaters in June, petrels in July, rays in August, gulls in Sep., and gannets in Oct. 2018. Sea turtles were recorded in June-Oct 2018, and are Listed species. | Jervis et al. 2019 | |
Baseline | Birds, Fish, Reptiles | Aerial Survey Four quarterly aerial digital surveys were conducted between July 2016 and May 2017 by Normandeau Associates and APEM Ltd to assess abundance and distribution, primarily of birds, but also of marine mammals, sharks, rays, and turtles for site characterization. | Complete The most abundant groups were rays in summer, ducks in fall, gannets in winter, and terns in spring. Several listed species including terns, leatherback turtle, shark and Atlantic bluefin tuna were recorded. | Jervis et al. 2019 | |
Baseline | Birds, Fish, Reptiles | Aerial Survey Monthly aerial digital surveys of lease area OCS-A 0512 (Empire Offshore Wind) were conducted between February 2019 and December 2019. The study aims to continue assessing abundance and distribution of birds, marine mammals, sharks, rays, and turtles present in the lease area. | Complete Avian species identified include waterfowl, shorebirds, auks, gulls, terns, loons, storm petrels, shearwaters, and gannets, with additional marine mammal, turtle, large bony fish, sharks, and rays identified. | Arundale et al. 2021 | |
Baseline | Fish | Essential Fish Habitat Assessment Data from NOAA Fisheries Habitat Mapper and other reports and published literature were synthesized to identify species with essential fish habitat within the lease area. | Complete 40 species were identified by life stage in various sub-areas within the Lease Area and export cable siting corridors. | Tetra Tech Inc. 2022 | No data publicly available. |
Baseline | Fish | Trawl surveys Trawl surveys were completed between October 2006 and October 2007 to resolve conflicting accounts of spawning and habitat characteristics for winter Flounder Pseudofleuronectes americanus. | Complete Flounder were most abundant in January and April surveys, and rarely found in August. Males and females had similar patterns in body and reproductive condition. | Wuenschel et al. 2009 | No data publicly available. |
Baseline | Marine Mammals | Passive acoustic monitoring Wildlife Conservation Society, in collaboration with Woods Whole Oceanographic Institution, deployed two moored buoys in the lease area (first in 2016 and the second in 2020) using a passive acoustic monitoring system to monitor whales in and around the lease area. | Ongoing To date, over 2374 whale observations events have been recorded. Whales include fin, humpback, North Atlantic right, and sei. Fin and humpback whales appear to be the most prevalent. | ||
Baseline | Marine Mammals | Aerial surveys 36 line-transect aerial surveys were conducted in the New York Bight between March 2017 and February 2020. | Complete 318 total sightings of whales were recorded, with humpback being the most common followed by fin whales. | Zoidis et al. 2021 | No data publicly available. |