Sunrise Wind's 30-day public comment period starts

The US Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) said today it has published a notice of intent (NOI) to prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) with regard to the Sunrise Wind project offshore New York.

The notice opens a 30-day public comment period on the proposed Construction and Operations Plan (COP) filed by Sunrise Wind LLC, which is a joint venture between the North American unit of Denmark’s Ørsted A/S (CPH:ORSTED) and Eversource Investment LLC, part of New England utility Eversource Energy (NYSE:ES). After this period, BOEM will carry out a full environmental analysis and decide whether to approve the COP.

A total of three virtual scoping meetings will be held on September 16, September 20 and September 22. The comment period will end on September 30, 2021.

The up-to-122-turbine project is expected to have a total capacity of between 880 MW and 1,300 MW. Its lease area is located in federal waters some 31 miles east of Montauk, New York; 19 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts; and 17 miles from Block Island, Rhode Island.

Sunrise Wind is expected to help the state meet its clean energy objective of having 70% electricity from renewable sources by 2030.

“The demand for offshore wind energy has never been greater — we will continue to invest in the infrastructure to develop the offshore wind industry and to help attract the domestic supply chain,” commented Secretary Deb Haaland.

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