Page 16: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (February 2020)

O? shore Wind © faithie/AdobeStock

Offshore Wind: Half Empty or Half Full?

With tremendous promise comes many questions.

s a new decade starts, offshore wind devel- ment, New York has less than 60 months to develop a brand opment continues to progress. Actually, new industry, in its entirety, from basic R&D to production it’s probably more accurate to write that to distribution.

A the development of the development of off- Consider, for example, NY’s upcoming OFW research. shore wind (OFW) continues to, uh, well, There are three key “Pillar” areas: develop.

Apologies for that mild sarcasm. But even a quick look- • Pillar 1 will address Offshore Wind Plant Technolo- back at OFW always raises the same familiar question: is the gy Advancement, reviewing “array performance and glass half empty or half full? control optimization,” ? oating turbines and power

Consider developments in the east coast leader in offshore system design.

wind: New York.

In a webinar in December New York’s NYSERDA – New • Pillar 2 will study the wind itself as a resource and

York State Energy Research and Development Authority – develop a “Metocean Reference Site.” provided an update and summary on the State’s 2019 offshore wind initiatives, including a brief look ahead for 2020. Be- • Pillar 3 focuses on “Installation, O&M and Supply yond New York, NYSERDA is the lead agency in the Atlan- Chain Solutions,” including analysis and recom- tic states offshore wind consortium. Unlike many state pro- mendations on “heavy lift vessel alternatives.” grams, NY has rich ? nancial resources and it has developed speci? c programs to advance OFW work. As in most things, Obviously, all important work. Again, it’s at the starting what New York does is important. line. NYSERDA references an extensive committee struc-

NY’s Empire and Sunrise projects, totaling 1700 MW, in ture to help with advice and priorities. But meetings have the New York Bight, are supposed to start generating energy been sporadic and informal. What’s the 2020 work schedule by 2024, less than four years. That’s a tough deadline. Af- to expedite this work? Don’t know.

ter 60 years, for example, it’s likely that highway engineers Workforce is another critical – and political – emerging top- know just about every detail regarding an upcoming project. ic. For NY’s leadership, OFW is as much about employment

But that doesn’t mean they are easy. With OFW develop- and economic development as it is about energy. Sunrise and 16 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News • February 2020

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