Deepwater Wind - Energy Highway

BY COURIER AND ELECTRONIC MAIL
May 30, 2012
Gil C. Quiniones
Co-Chair, Energy Highway Task Force
President & CEO
New York Power Authority
123 Main Street, 16 th Floor
White Plains, NY 10601-3170
RE: Response to Energy Highway RFI
Dear Mr. Quiniones:
Deepwater Wind (“Deepwater”) is pleased to submit this response to the Energy Highway
Request for Information (RFI) released on April 11, 2012.
The Governor’s Energy Highway is a bold and visionary initiative that creates a singular
opportunity for New York State to upgrade its electric infrastructure to meet the needs of a 21stcentury
economy. Achieving the goals of the Energy Highway will require a portfolio of
solutions that balance the need to ensure a long-term supply of reliable and cost-effective energy
with the state’s commitment to an environmentally sustainable future.
Offshore wind energy, when combined with new regional HVDC transmission systems, can help
New York meet the Governor’s ambitious goals. The Deepwater Wind Energy Center (DWEC),
a 900 MW offshore wind farm coupled with an HVDC transmission network linking eastern
Long Island to southern New England, is scheduled to be in operations beginning in 2017. As
the first offshore extension of New York’s Energy Highway, DWEC will deliver clean,
renewable energy into NYISO’s Zone K and also provide a first ever interconnection with ISO-
NE’s SEMA zone. The project’s net impact to ratepayers, when all benefits are considered, is
comparable to the long-term costs of a new fossil fuel plant built on Long Island.
Although DWEC is the most actionable utility-scale offshore project due to its advanced
development, New York also enjoys close proximity to additional offshore sites with robust wind

esources that represent future opportunities to expand this new offshore energy highway.
Deepwater is actively developing these projects as well.
Deepwater appreciates the opportunity to contribute to the Energy Highway initiative.
Sincerely,
William M. Moore
Chief Executive Officer
Deepwater Wind Holdings, LLC
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Executive Summary
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Enabled by the rapid evolution of the offshore wind industry in Northern Europe,
offshore wind farms paired with transmission networks are today cost comparable with
new fossil fuel plants in New York’s Zones K and J, when all important ratepayer
benefits of these projects are considered. These “second generation” projects can now be
built at a larger scale, can access stronger winds that are located in deeper waters far from
shore, and can enable access to neighboring energy markets through the use of innovative
multi-terminal HVDC submarine cable network designs.
The most advanced – and ready for execution – utility-scale offshore wind and
transmission project is the Deepwater Wind Energy Center (“DWEC”), an historic
renewable energy project for New York. DWEC will be a 900 MW offshore wind energy
plant located approximately 30 miles east of Montauk. The 2,900 GWh per year of clean,
renewable energy from DWEC will be delivered into Zone K via a new regional HVDC
submarine transmission system, the New England-Long Island Interconnector (“NELI”).
NELI will, for the first time, connect Zone K with the SEMA zone of ISO-NE, providing
increased system reliability and delivering considerable system benefits to the Long
Island Power Authority (“LIPA”).
Deepwater bid this combined DWEC and NELI Project in response to LIPA’s Generation
and Transmission RFP for up to 2,500 MW issued on August 20, 2010. To Deepwater’s
knowledge, the bid is still under consideration.
DWEC is scheduled to deliver energy from the offshore wind plant beginning in 2017,
and is therefore the nearest-term utility-scale offshore wind plant in the region. DWEC
enjoys a considerable advantage in its permitting and siting. Over the last three years, a
comprehensive ocean planning and baseline study process has been underway in this
region led by the states of Rhode Island and Massachusetts. This work has made it
possible for a utility-scale offshore wind farm and transmission network to achieve
commercial operations in this ocean area within the next several years allowing this
project to meet the near-term Zone K supply needs identified by LIPA. Moreover,
Deepwater’s investments in characterizing the wind resource east of Montauk confirm
that this site is among the most robust wind energy sites on the Atlantic coast.
DWEC represents a near-term opportunity to extend New York’s electricity transmission
infrastructure into nearby federal and state ocean waters and thereby significantly
advance the goals established by the Governor for the Energy Highway:
• Reduce constraints on the flow of electricity to, and within, the downstate
area; and expand the diversity of power generation sources supplying
downstate. By combining utility-scale offshore wind with new inter-regional
transmission links Deepwater’s project will reduce congestion and lower average
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wholesale power costs in Zone K, and the projects will increase fuel diversity for
downstate electricity supply mix.
• Assure that long-term reliability of the electric system is maintained in the
face of major system uncertainties. Deepwater’s project will increase system
reliability by providing a new source of locational capacity downstate and by
introducing greater long-term electric supply flexibility by creating a new
transmission link to a sector of the ISO-NE grid to which New York is not
currently connected.
• Encourage development of utility-scale renewable generation resources
throughout the State. Offshore wind is the only utility-scale and commercially
mature renewable resource located in downstate New York and is the most
scalable with thousands of megawatts of potential existing within a relative close
proximity to the state’s shores.
• Increase efficiency of power generation, particularly in densely populated
urban areas. Offshore wind has the ability to deliver zero-emission power
directly into the Zone K load pocket. This power results in significant emissions
reductions but without the environmental justice challenges faced by conventional
power plants. Additionally, the high capacity and peak coincidence factors of
offshore wind will result in large price suppression benefits to Zone J and K
ratepayers that far exceed those created by combined cycle gas-fired plants.
Further expansions of New York’s Energy Highway into federal waters are also possible,
serving downstate markets from other large wind farms that could later be interconnected
by new offshore networks to both PJM East in central New Jersey and Zone J in New
York City. While the offshore wind potential in this area is substantial, projects here will
require an additional two or more years to develop because this area has not undergone
the same level of planning and baseline data collection as those areas east of Long Island.
The Long Island-New York City Offshore Wind Collaborative, led by NYPA, has shown
great leadership in identifying and initiating the federal leasing process for a robust wind
energy site in this region. Additionally, Deepwater is developing a combined wind farm
(Hudson Canyon Wind Farm) and transmission network (Submarine Regional
Transmission Line – SMRT Line) for this area, located to the south of the NYPA-led
Collaborative project area. Deepwater’s SMRT Line project could connect both the
NYPA Site and the Hudson Canyon site to New York City and Long Island. Deepwater
has secured interconnection queue positions for SMRT Line and has submitted an
application to the NYISO’s CARIS process for the project.
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A final longer-term phase of development of New York’s large offshore energy potential
could link the two wind energy regions and energy markets at either end of Long Island
via a new submarine transmission connection. This south-of-Long Island offshore energy
highway could provide additional reliability benefits by reinforcing LIPA’s existing onshore
grid; allowing greater transfer capabilities between Zones J and K, creating greater
access to the competitive markets of PJM and ISO-NE; and giving all of New York
electric customers even greater access to the vast wind energy potential of the waters of
the North Atlantic.
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I. Respondent Information
Contact Information
William M. Moore
Chief Executive Officer
Deepwater Wind, LLC
56 Exchange Terrace, Suite 101
Providence, RI 02903
401-648-0605 / wmoore@dwwind.com
Overview of Deepwater Wind
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Deepwater is the leading developer of offshore wind-generation facilities in the United
States. Deepwater is exclusively focused on developing, owning, and operating offshore
wind-generation and transmission facilities in the northeastern U.S. where commercially
attractive wind resources are available and in close proximity to major electricity load
centers.
Deepwater is led by one of the most experienced energy development teams in the
northeast. Collectively, its senior management and board of managers have raised $7
billion dollars to support utility-scale renewable energy and transmission projects in the
last five years. They have successfully developed and built over 2,000 MW of
transmission and over 1,000 MW of onshore wind capacity. Collectively, they have
developed a substantial portion of the wind capacity in New York and New England.
CEO William M. Moore is a pioneering wind developer in the U.S., having developed the
first commercial wind farms in New York, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania. Moore’s
Maple Ridge Wind Farm (325 MW) in Lewis County, New York, is still the largest wind
plant in eastern North America. President Chris van Beek is a leading offshore
construction expert and the former COO of the largest offshore construction company in
the world, Heerema Marine Contractors. At Heerema, he personally led the construction
of several of the largest and most complex offshore installations, including the world’s
deepest offshore platform installation (the 7,800 foot Perdido Platform in the Gulf of
Mexico).
Deepwater has assembled a distinguished Board of Managers. Chairman of the Board
Bryan Martin, head of Private Equity at the D.E. Shaw Group, has a long career as a
strategic investor in energy projects and companies across the entire spectrum of the
industry, including traditional power plants and transmission systems to utility-scale
renewables. Martin has guided Deepwater's strategy of building utility-scale offshore
wind farms "over the horizon" to serve key northeastern markets since 2007.
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The Board of Managers also includes Ed Stern, President and CEO of PowerBridge, one
of the leading developers of transmission projects in the northeast, including the Neptune
Project and the Hudson Transmission Project, both serving downstate New York. Paul
Gaynor, CEO of First Wind, a leading developer and operator of utility-scale onshore
wind energy projects, has also been a member of the Board of Managers for several
years.
Deepwater has been significantly investing in the development of offshore wind projects
in the northeast since 2005. In 2008, Deepwater was selected after a competitive process
by the State of Rhode Island as the state’s preferred developer of offshore wind. On
January 2, 2009, Deepwater and the State of Rhode Island signed a joint development
agreement that granted Deepwater the exclusive right to develop an offshore wind plant
in the federal waters south of Rhode Island, between eastern Long Island and Martha’s
Vineyard. This site is the location of DWEC.
In partnership with PSEG Global, a wholly owned subsidiary of PSEG, Deepwater
formed Garden State Offshore Energy to develop utility-scale wind energy projects to
serve New Jersey. That partnership has also been selected by the State of New Jersey as
a preferred developer of offshore wind energy projects.
As a prelude to these utility-scale projects, Deepwater is also in the final development
stages of the Block Island Wind Farm, a 30 MW demonstration scale offshore wind
project off the coast of Block Island in Rhode Island state waters. The Block Island
Wind Farm, which has an approved power purchase agreement with National Grid, is
expected to be in construction in late 2013-early 2014 and is on target to be the first
offshore wind farm in North America. This project will use the same technology as
proposed for DWEC and demonstrates that offshore wind can be profitably developed,
financed, and built in the United States.
Deepwater’s primary investors are an entity of the D.E. Shaw group and First Wind.
The D. E. Shaw group is a global investment and technology development firm with
approximately $26 billion in investment capital as of March 1, 2012; and offices in North
America, Europe, and Asia. Since its organization in 1988, the firm has earned an
international reputation for financial innovation and technological leadership. The D. E.
Shaw group is engaged in a broad spectrum of investment activities, including private
equity activities and has experience in the financing and development of power
generating assets.
First Wind Holdings, LLC, a significant minority Investor in Deepwater, is an
independent North American wind energy company focused exclusively on the
development, ownership and operation of wind energy projects since 2002. Currently,
First Wind operates 750 MW of generation capacity at 12 wind energy projects across the
United States. First Wind is also managing the construction of an additional 4 onshore
wind energy projects totaling 230 MW of generation capacity. Among its projects, First
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Wind owns and operates wind farms in upstate New York (Steel Winds & Cohocton) and
built an 88-mile generator lead connecting its Milford project in Utah with the Southern
Transmission System in California.
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II.
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Project Description
The Deepwater Wind Energy Center (DWEC) will be the first regional renewable energy
center supplying power to New York, as well as neighboring states. It will supply Zone
K with up to 2,900 GWh per year of clean, renewable power from the nation’s first
regional offshore wind energy center. Deepwater’s innovative structure also provides
Zone K with access to firming energy and capacity from ISO-NE, via a new 600 MW
hybrid HVDC submarine transmission line, the New England-Long Island Interconnector
(NELI). This combination of offerings provides Zone K with a new source of up to 600
MW of firm energy and capacity.
A Project that Achieves the Energy Highway and LIPA’s Goals. In addition to
providing energy, capacity, environmental attributes, and firm transmission capacity, the
Project delivers a combination of benefits to Zone K and the rest of New York State that
cannot be provided by conventional supply resources or by a collection of smaller-scale
renewable energy projects:
• Reduces congestion in Zone K by supplying 2,900 GWh/year of power and
enables the delivery of an additional 2,400 GWh/year from southern New
England;
• Enhances reliability by providing a new link to a neighboring electric grid (ISO-
NE) and by supplying Zone K capacity to help meet local reliability requirements;
• Utilizes advanced technologies;
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• Supports development of a new green industry in downstate New York;
• Satisfies approximately 52% of New York State’s remaining 2015 RPS goal and
100% of LIPA’s 2020 renewable energy supply goal;
• Satisfies LIPA’s entire greenhouse gas emissions reduction target;
• Diversifies downstate New York’s electric fuel supply; and
• Provides long-term supply flexibility.!
Offshore Wind Plant. DWEC will consist of 150 WTGs, each with a nameplate capacity
of 6 MW, and will be built in two arrays of 450 MW each, for a total of 900 MW.
Deepwater’s analysis demonstrates that the Project site could accommodate up to 200
WTGs, allowing for future expansion. DWEC is the most advanced second-generation
offshore wind plant in the United States and is widely expected to be one of the first
utility-scale offshore wind farms to receive permits and site control. Given its location in
a high wind-speed area, the 900 MW Wind Plant will have a capacity and peak
coincidence factors that are superior to those of near-shore offshore wind plants and that
far exceed those of land-based wind farms in the Northeast.
Controllable HVDC Transmission Network. NELI is modeled after similar offshore
networks that have been proposed in Northern Europe and elsewhere. Using
commercially tested technologies similar to those already in use in New York, NELI is a
600 MW HVDC transmission facility that will connect the Brayton Point, Massachusetts
high-voltage substation in ISO-NE with LIPA’s Shoreham substation, and will include an
offshore substation to which DWEC will interconnect and deliver power. The distance
from Brayton Point to the Wind Plant is approximately 38 miles; and from the Wind
Plant to Shoreham, approximately 98 miles.
The Shoreham interconnection point has a number of advantages including adequate
space for the location of a converter station, direct access to Long Island Sound, and
sufficient electrical capacity to handle a new 600 MW interconnection without the need
for significant upgrades. Additionally, interconnecting at Shoreham increases the
efficiency of the LIPA transmission system by supplying the under-served eastern load
pocket and by more fully utilizing the transmission infrastructure that is currently in
place.
NELI not only enables LIPA to receive the benefits of firm power by firming an
intermittent wind resource, it also enhances the economic efficiency of DWEC by
improving the utilization of the Wind Plant’s transmission infrastructure and providing
Zone K access to cost effective supply in the ISO-NE market.
Supply of Firm Power and Zone K Capacity. The 900 MW Wind Plant will deliver
power to the NELI offshore substation and the first power generated, up to NELI’s 600
MW limit, will be transmitted to Zone K. With Deepwater’s Project, NY-ISO’s Zone K
will receive a firm block of 600 MW of power, most of which will be generated by
DWEC. During periods when the output of the Wind Plant is greater than 600 MW, the
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additional power will be diverted to New England. During hours when the output of the
Wind Plant is less than 600 MW, it will be possible to source the difference from ISO-
NE.
The capacity supplied by the wind farm will qualify as Zone K capacity. Additionally,
since NELI will have firm withdrawal rights from ISO-NE this will enable Zone K to
receive up to a total of 600 MW of new Zone K capacity.
Project Status. DWEC is further advanced than any other utility-scale offshore wind
farm capable of serving New York, due to the advanced ocean planning efforts
undertaken by neighboring states and Deepwater’s substantial investments in siting and
designing the Project. Accordingly, Deepwater has commenced Project permitting and
detailed design and engineering work and expects to have secured site control, requisite
permits and finalized design and engineering work by Q4 2013. An award by LIPA of a
Power Purchase Agreement for DWEC could materially accelerate the site control and
permitting process. The first construction season is expected to occur in Q2 and Q3 2016
and the second construction season in Q2 and Q3 2017.
Deepwater proposes to begin supplying Zone K with 600 MW of firm capacity via NELI
beginning on May 1, 2017, with the renewable energy generation brought on line in two
phases, in 2017 and 2018.
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III. Project Justification & Benefits
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Deepwater’s Project provides a number of pricing and environmental benefits for both
Zone K and the rest of New York State.
Reduced Congestion in Zone K and Zone J
While a new offshore wind farm may have a basic revenue requirement that is greater
than that of some conventional resources, this premium is offset by offshore wind’s
greater long-term system benefits. Most notably, wind projects are “price-takers” in the
NYISO’s Day-Ahead and Real-Time hourly energy markets in which the supply of very
low marginal cost power from wind displaces the most costly fossil-fired generation and
thus reduces the market-clearing price for every hour the wind units are on line. With
this effect, often referred to as the merit order effect or price suppression, average
wholesale power prices are lowered for all ratepayers in all of New York and especially
in the specific zone into which the windfarm is delivering power.
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As estimated by the New York State Department of Public Service, the benefits of price
suppression of the renewable generation sources currently online in upstate New York
offsets more than half of the costs of the payments made to those same resources under
the Renewable Portfolio Standard program. CRA, in a study commissioned by
Deepwater estimated that a utility-scale offshore wind farm delivering power into
downstate New York would result in even higher price suppression benefits for
consumers as a result of downstate New York’s higher energy prices as well as the higher
peak coincidence of offshore wind generation. In other words, the same megawatt-hour
of low marginal cost power delivered into downstate New York produces 20% greater
consumer savings than if it were delivered into upstate New York.
Deepwater commissioned CRA to perform detailed system impact studies to estimate the
savings to rate payers created by the Project as a result of price suppression over its first
10 years of operations. CRA estimated that the price suppression impact during that
period to Zone K would average approximately $4.50/MWh for all power sold in that
zone, and $0.90/MWh for Zone J. The annual benefits for both zones would average
between $100 million and $300 million for a total 10-year benefit of $1.95 billion to
downstate ratepayers.
Long-Term Hedge Benefit
In addition to the environmental benefits of offshore wind, the Project is also the only
new utility-scale resource option in downstate New York (other than nuclear, which
would face considerable siting resistance) that can provide a long-term price hedge
against fossil fuels. As a point of reference, wholesale prices for natural gas in 2008 were
approximately twice the level as those just two years later in 2010 1 . While natural gas
prices are at an historic low today, creating overdependence on natural gas power
generation exposes the state to the long-term risk of higher gas prices or the type of
volatility that has occurred routinely in the past.
Reliability Benefits
The combination of a utility-scale offshore wind project and a controllable cable link to a
new part of the New England electric grid provides a number of important reliability
benefits for the downstate New York electric grid.
Peak Coincidence. Offshore winds in the Northeast tend to blow in the late afternoon
on hot summer days when the downstate demand is the highest. This high peak
coincidence of offshore winds makes offshore wind farms better able to supply load
when power is needed most; when the energy and capacity are most valuable in the
wholesale market; and when the air quality benefit is greatest, as the utility peaking
plants are generally the least efficient and dirtiest. While land based wind farms in
upstate New York have typical on-peak capacity factors of only 10%, the DWEC project
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1 www.eia.doe.gov
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is expected to have an on-peak capacity factor in the range of 40-50%. (These estimated
on-peak capacity factors are based on advanced mesoscale modeling completed by AWS
Truepower.) This high peak-coincidence factor even exceeds that of solar, which has a
tendency to peak in the middle of the day and suffers from declining production during
the late afternoon hours when peak-day demand typically continues to rise.
New Market Access to Neighboring RTO. In addition to power generated by the Wind
Plant, Deepwater’s proposal for the first time gives New York a connection to the SEMA
zone of ISO-New England. This new transmission link will provide LIPA with the
ability to purchase energy and capacity from SEMA over NELI. This market access
provides several major reliability benefits. The first is the enhanced reliability resulting
from the system’s ability to import all of the 600 MW from ISO-NE, a redundancy that
ensures 365-day per year operations regardless of the wind farm output. Second, NELI
will allow for the import of more cost effective balancing power for the wind farm, taking
advantage of a surplus of gas-fired generation in the southeastern region of ISO-NE.
(which has a gross reserve margin of approximately 9,600 MW, 6,000 MW of which is
located in SEMA). Third, SEMA is in large measure electrically separate from the
Connecticut zone to which the two existing cables from Zone K interconnect. Finally, it
is expected that the addition of NELI to the LIPA system will result in a decrease in the
Zone K Locational Capacity Requirement (LCR) as was the case when the Neptune
Regional Transmission System came online in 2007. (The New York Reliability Council
lowered the Zone K LCR by 5% in 2008 and the NYISO cited Neptune as the primary
reason for the reduction 2 .)
Gas System Benefits. Deepwater’s Project also provides considerable benefits to the
Long Island and New York City gas delivery systems by displacing gas that would have
been used for power generation in Zones K and J with power from the Wind Plant and
ISO-NE. Deepwater commissioned CRA to conduct a market simulation study to
determine the quantity of natural gas consumption on Long Island and in New York City
that would be displaced by the proposed Project. Over the first ten years of the Project’s
life, it is expected to displace 17.5 million mm BTU of natural gas per year on average, or
approximately 22% of the natural gas used for power generation in Zone K. This is the
equivalent to 30 million barrels of oil over the ten years. Additionally, over that same
period, it is expected to displace 8.8 million mm BTU of natural gas per year on average
in New York City. This is equivalent to a total of approximately 15 million barrels of oil
over the time period.
It is also important to note that, because wind also peaks in output during the cold winter
months, the Wind Plant is more likely to be generating closer to its rated capacity during
the middle of the winter, precisely when the gas system is at peak draw, meaning that
Deepwater’s Proposal will provide both physical and economic relief to the constrained
gas system.
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Environmental Benefits
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Improved Air Quality. The most direct environmental benefit to New York comes in the
form of improved local air quality that results from the injection of power both from the
wind farm and imports from southern New England. Based on modeling completed by
Charles River Associates (CRA), the Project is expected to reduce Zone K NO x emissions
from electric generation sources by as much as 35%.
Reduction in Green House Gas Emissions. The Project also benefits all New Yorkers
through the resulting reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. CRA’s modeling found that
the Project is expected to reduce Zone K electric generation CO 2 emissions by as much as
22%, which would allow LIPA to meet its entire greenhouse gas reduction goal.
Meeting Renewable Energy Goals. The Project would also cost-effectively satisfy 100%
of LIPA’s renewable energy goals and more than half of New York State’s remaining
RPS 2015 goal. 3
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3 NYSERDA RPS 2012 Performance Report. NY has met 47% of its 2015 goal of 10,400 GWh annually.
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IV. Financial
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Long-Term Contract
In order to secure commercial financing for the Project a long-term contract (at least 20
years) with a credit worthy entity will be required. As previously stated, Deepwater
submitted a proposal for such a long-term contract to LIPA in 2011, which Deepwater
believes is still under consideration.
Pricing
Deepwater can deliver power to Zone K from its combined cable and offshore wind
Project at approximately 10 cents per kilowatt-hour in the first year of operation 4 (net of
system benefits). This is possible because:
1) advances in offshore wind technology plus a robust wind resource combine to deliver
offshore wind power from DWEC at one-half the price of power from a first-generation
project previously proposed in the region;
2) the new transmission link to ISO-New England also allows LIPA to import low-cost
firming power from surplus gas-fired generation; and
3) the utility-scale offshore wind plant will deliver substantial price suppression benefits,
and valuable environmental attributes, the economic value of which reduces the ratepayer
impact of the power delivery.
The Project compares very favorably to any other native renewable resource that can be
built at a utility-scale. Indeed, the Project can deliver a significant amount of clean
energy at a fraction of the cost of a comparable-sized solar energy plant in the downstate
region, without the associated onshore siting concerns for such a large facility.
There have been significant improvements in offshore wind technology in the last
decade. Since 2002, when a much smaller offshore wind plant was proposed for a site 3-
5 miles south of Jones Beach, Long Island, turbine generator sizes have increased
threefold. That increase substantially reduces the capital cost of projects, since a similar
amount of power can be produced from a plant with many fewer structures. Moreover,
wind turbines sited 20 or more miles from shore enjoy substantially higher capacity
factors, as much as 30% higher, than turbines sited closer to shore. And, with a larger
multi-state project, New York ratepayers achieve greater value by capturing the pricing
benefits that result from economies of scale.
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4 Over a 20-year contract term and with a modest escalator.
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Sources of Financing
The project will be funded with private capital. Deepwater’s management and investors
have raised over $7 billion of capital for transmission and renewable energy projects over
the last five years and are active in the debt and equity markets for projects such as this.
The Project’s equity requirements will be funded by equity investments from existing
investors and, if necessary, new investors. Deepwater anticipates two potential sources
of debt financing. Deepwater has been engaged in negotiations with potential turbine
suppliers, and has had initial discussions with representatives of such turbine suppliers to
arrange for export credit financing for the turbines. In addition, Deepwater will pursue a
conventional project finance debt arrangement, as is conventional with renewable
projects.
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V. Permitting and Approval Processes
The Project’s Permitting Advantages
Deepwater’s Project is subject to both federal and state permitting processes. However,
the Project enjoys a considerable advantage over any other utility-scale offshore wind
plant that is capable of serving New York.
Rhode Island invested over $10 million in collecting scientific data and engaging key
stakeholders in an ocean zone that includes the Project site. The state concluded in its
Ocean Special Area Management Plan (Ocean SAMP) that the Project site is the best
location for offshore energy production in the ocean zone studied in federal waters south
of the Rhode Island and Massachusetts coasts. This Ocean SAMP has subsequently been
accepted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the effect of which is
to speed the federal permitting process in the Project site because of this extensive "pre
permitting" work done by the state. In this regard, the Project site is in a unique position
among all offshore energy project sites on the east coast.
Further, Deepwater is also in a unique position among developers of federal waters
projects on the east coast as a result of its preferred position in the Project site under its
agreement with Rhode Island. The federal leasing process specifically includes a leasing
process for states such as Rhode Island that have already conducted competitive
solicitations.
For these reasons, the Project can be executed to meet a 2017 commercial operation date
for the first offshore wind turbines, ahead of any other offshore wind farm proposed for
New York.
Federal Permitting Requirements for the Project
The primary federal permit and overall regulatory driver for the Project is a commercial
lease from the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management
(BOEM). The Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OSCLA) delegated authority to the
Department of Interior to manage submerged lands on the OCS. The Energy Policy Act
of 2005 further gave the Department of Interior authority, subsequently delegated to
BOEM, for issuing submerged lands leases for alternative energy development on the
OCS. Under the Final Rule adopted in April 2009 (33 CFR Parts 250, 285, 290), BOEM
may issue commercial leases (30-year term) that provide full rights to use the OCS for
energy production and generation. These leases include project easements that are
necessary for transmission cables and lines associated with the Project.
The other primary federal permit will be an Individual Permit from the U.S. Army Corps
of Engineers (USACE). USACE is expected to be a cooperating agency under NEPA to
satisfy the NEPA requirements for the Individual Permit. The Wind Plant will require an
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approved Private Aid to Navigation (PATON) from the U.S. Coast Guard for
navigational lighting of the structure. Because the Wind Plant is outside of the federal
territorial seas (i.e. beyond 12 nautical miles), the Federal Aviation Administration
(FAA) review of structures over 200 feet will not apply to the Project. 5
Environmental resource protection agencies, including the National Marine Fisheries
Service, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency, will be responsible for reviewing Project impacts to protected resources and
evaluating the need for mitigation or permitting. These agencies will have the
opportunity to comment through interagency consultations required for federal
permitting. NMFS and USFWS will review impacts to marine, coastal, and terrestrial
threatened and endangered species protected by the federal Endangered Species Act
(ESA). Impacts to non-listed species and habitats will also be evaluated under several
other wildlife protection laws, including the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA), the
Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA),
and the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act. The EPA will
review the Project for potential air emissions from construction and operation vessels
with respect to state non-attainment areas for criteria pollutants.
State Permitting Requirements for the Project
The portion of NELI within New York state waters will require a Certificate of
Environmental Compatibility and Public Need under Article VII from the New York
State Department of Public Service, Public Service Commission. The Article VII process
requires a full environmental, public health, and safety impact review of the siting,
design, construction, and operation of major transmission facilities in New York. The
environmental review under Article VII is conducted in lieu of a State Environmental
Quality Act (SEQRA) process for the PSC permit.
The Project will also require a federal consistency review under the New York
Department of State, Coastal Zone Management Program, the Rhode Island Coastal
Resources Management Program (RICRMP) and the Massachusetts Coastal Zone
Management Program (MA CZMP). The Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management
Council (RI CRMC) recently adopted the Ocean SAMP into the Rhode Island Coastal
Resources Management Plan. The Ocean SAMP outlines enforceable policies and
recommendations to guide RI CRMC in promoting a balanced and comprehensive
ecosystem-based management approach for the development and protection of oceanbased
resources within the Ocean SAMP study area, which extends into federal waters.
The Wind Plant is located within the Ocean SAMP study area and has been sited to
conform to the results of the Ocean SAMP.
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5 Notwithstanding this lack of jurisdiction, Deepwater plans to consult with the FAA.
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Permitting Milestones
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Deepwater has reached several key milestones in the path to fully permitting the Project
and obtaining full site control.
Deepwater has exclusive rights from the state to develop off the coast of Rhode Island.
As discussed earlier, Deepwater is Rhode Island’s preferred developer of offshore wind
as a result of having won a competitive solicitation in 2008. While the United States
Department of the Interior must issue a lease for the project site in federal waters, the
federal government will turn to the preferences of the adjacent state in making this
decision.
The permitting and leasing process is far ahead of other projects. In October 2010,
Deepwater submitted a lease application for the Wind Plant site to the federal
government and has been deemed legally, financially, and technically qualified to hold a
lease by the Department of the Interior.
In 2011, BOEM took several steps to advance the process of awarding a lease for the site
of the Project. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar kicked off these next steps in the
leasing process by setting the goal of finalizing a lease award in 2012. Specifically, on
August 18, 2011, BOEM issued a Call for Nominations and Interest for the Project site.
Deepwater responded to this Call with a nomination of a project site area that can
accommodate over 1,000 MWs of nameplate capacity. The Governor of Rhode Island
officially supported Deepwater’s nomination.
BOEM also issued on August 18, 2011 a Notice of Intent to Prepare an Environmental
Assessment for Commercial Wind Lease Issuance in the Project site. BOEM has
indicated that these two processes – the lease award and the environmental review
necessary for the lease award – will proceed concurrently in 2012.
Finally, Deepwater’s Block Island project is in the permitting phase with many of the
agencies that will also permit DWEC and NELI. Deepwater has been working with these
agencies for the last several years on the Block Island Wind Farm and has helped set the
permitting standards for offshore wind farms and associated transmission on the Atlantic
Coast.
Deepwater has invested in the studies and designs necessary to move forward at this
site. In 2010, Deepwater completed a comprehensive turbine-siting plan for the Project
site, working with AWS Truepower. This plan was informed by a site-specific wind
assessment model, existing geophysical data, a site-specific foundation design, and a
FEED study for transmission components.
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VI. Interconnection
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Deepwater has developed a comprehensive interconnection plan that is based on a front
end engineering design (FEED) study that it commissioned from SGC Engineering. The
interconnection plan will be finalized through detailed engineering and design work in
consultation with LIPA, NYISO, and ISO-NE.
Shoreham 138 kV
Power from the Wind Plant, as well as exports from ISO-NE, will be delivered to LIPA at
the existing 138 kV substation at the Shoreham former nuclear power plant site.
Deepwater commissioned Siemens PTI to prepare a preliminary interconnection
feasibility assessment. This study found that there were few upgrades necessary on
LIPA’s bulk transmission system needed to support the injection of power from
Deepwater’s Project. Deepwater has also evaluated the Port Jefferson, Riverhead, and
Buell substations as alternative points of interconnection in Zone K. Interconnecting at
Shoreham increases the efficiency of the LIPA transmission system by supplying the
under-served eastern load pocket and by more fully utilizing the transmission
infrastructure that is currently in place.
Brayton Point 345 kV
In New England, the Project will interconnect at the Brayton Point 345 kV substation.
During periods of low wind energy production, power may be exported from the Brayton
Point interconnection to balance the output of the Wind Plant. During periods of high
wind energy production, when the Wind Plant’s output exceeds 600 MW the excess
power that cannot be delivered to LIPA will be diverted to ISO-NE and injected at
Brayton Point. Accordingly, the Brayton Point interconnection has been designed for
both injections and withdrawals. Siemens PTI has confirmed that the high-voltage 345
kV system at Brayton Point is able to accept both injections and withdrawals. As an
alternative to Brayton Point, Deepwater is also evaluating National Grid’s Kent County
345 kV substation.
Offshore HVDC
The Wind Plant will be connected to an HVDC transmission system at the offshore
converter station, delivering power to the AC bus before conversion to DC power.
Deliverability and Interconnection Service
Deepwater has commissioned a series of studies which suggest that the proposed 600
MW can be delivered to the Shoreham 138 kV substation. Specifically, a FEED study
performed by SGC Engineering established the optimal project configuration from the
perspective of cost and functionality. In addition, Deepwater had Siemens PTI prepare a
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preliminary interconnection feasibility assessment. This study showed that a system redispatch
would solve any post-contingency overloads in the 138kv circuits created by the
interconnection of the Project. Deepwater also commissioned Siemens PTI to prepare an
interface analysis, which shows that the Project does not violate any of the major
interfaces. Accordingly, Deepwater has a high degree of confidence in the technical
ability to interconnect and deliver power from the Project.
Deepwater has been working with LIPA on two interconnection requests since 2008 and
is committed to complying with the capacity deliverability requirements, both those of
the NYISO and LIPA itself. Deepwater is preparing to submit an interconnection
request to the NYISO for the Shoreham 138 kV substation and will seek to obtain
Capacity Resource Interconnection Service.
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VII. Technical
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The Project’s equipment includes commercially proven offshore wind turbine generators,
steel-piled jacket foundations and a HVDC transmission system. Equipment was selected
to provide New York with 1) offshore wind energy that is cost-comparable with
alternative generation options, 2) the opportunity to procure firming products from ISO-
NE and 3) a negligible visual impact on Long Island’s coastal communities.
Offshore Wind Turbine Generators
Deepwater has evaluated a number of alternative wind turbine generators (WTG) for the
Project. Because of the significant cost and efficiency advantages that the latest
generation of 5 and 6 MW WTGs provides, Deepwater is committed to deploying a WTG
of this class. Starting in 2008, DWW began a rigorous review of all commercially
available offshore WTGs that might be suitable for its projects. Among those WTGs
considered were some of the designs now emerging in Asia; and all of the larger WTGs
that are being produced by European manufacturers, including REpower, Areva, Vestas
and Siemens. No US manufacturer offers a commercial offshore 5 or 6 MW WTG.
The advent of the direct drive Siemens 6 MW x 154 meter (in rotor diameter) WTG was
identified by Deepwater in 2011 as the most promising new design available today, with
nearly 50% fewer rotating parts than a geared machine and a much lighter nacelle.
In October 2011, Deepwater signed a Preferred Supplier Agreement with Siemens
Energy whereby Siemens agreed to supply Deepwater’s 30 MW Block Island Wind Farm
with five of its latest generation of 6 MW direct drive offshore WTGs. The Block Island
Wind Farm is slated to be one of the first deployments of the Siemens 6 MW direct drive
WTG in the world.
Although Deepwater has not selected a turbine for deployment at DWEC, the Siemens 6
MW x 154 meter direct drive WTG is the design basis of the Project. Because of the
continued substantial investment in advanced WTG design by manufacturers spurred by
offshore project development in Europe, Deepwater expects to take advantage of further
technological advances and cost reductions in WTG offerings available to serve New
York. Because of Deepwater’s current involvement in the market in connection with the
Block Island Wind Farm and projects serving New York, Deepwater is well-positioned to
take advantage of the latest developments.
The standard design life for WTGs is 20 years, although it is possible to design for longer
terms.
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Steel-Piled Jacket Foundations
The offshore Wind Plant will use steel-piled jacket foundations to support the WTGs.
Steel-piled jacket foundations allow WTGs to be cost-effectively located in greater water
depths which generally correspond with further distances from shore, thus eliminating
visual impacts on coastal communities and allowing the Wind Plant to harvest stronger,
more consistent winds found in the open ocean. Steel-piled jacket foundations have been
the standard support structure for offshore oil and gas facilities for over 50 years and
have been commercially proven for offshore wind applications in Europe.
The design life of the jacket foundations will be in excess of 20 years.
Controllable Transmission System
NELI’s design utilizes DC subsea cables for both branches of the transmission system
and AC cables to transmit energy from the Wind Plant’s turbines to the Offshore
Converter Station.
The design life of the cable system will be approximately 50 years.
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VII. Construction & Design
Project Construction Methodology
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Deepwater’s management has deep applicable experience in constructing large and
complex energy projects. Deepwater’s Project Plan was developed based on proven
methodologies from the U.S. offshore oil and gas industry, with lessons learned from the
European offshore wind industry. Upon financial close, Deepwater will place orders for
all major equipment. Foundations will be fabricated at the Quonset Point port facility in
Rhode Island and deployed in two batches of 75 during the summer construction seasons
of 2016 and 2017. Cable systems will be installed concurrently with foundations using
an ocean-going cable installation vessel and a towed jet plow. Turbines will be
marshaled at the Quonset Point port facility and installed concurrently with foundations
using one or more heavy lift vessels.
Deepwater has executed a lease option agreement on the Quonset Point site and has
identified it as unique in its ability to cost-effectively service offshore wind farms in the
northeast.
Deepwater’s Development Studies and Consultants
In addition to Deepwater staff, Deepwater has assembled a team of development
consultants comprised of individuals and organizations from the wind, heavy
infrastructure and offshore construction industries with considerable experience in
engineering, technology, permitting and construction. Deepwater’s management team is
leading the design and development of the Project and has engaged leading development
consultants to support specific aspects of the Project’s design and development,
including:
• Site Selection and Permitting. Deepwater has completed a Critical Issues
Analysis to support the siting and development of this Project. The Critical Issues
Analysis outlines all applicable federal and state permits that are required to
successfully deliver the Project.
• Interconnection. Deepwater has worked with Siemens PTI to support the
interconnection of the project, including performing the feasibility and system
reliability impact studies and supporting work required by the NYISO.
• Production Optimization. Deepwater engaged AWS Truepower to optimize the
WTG array for the Wind Plant and produce an energy production estimate. The
energy production estimate is based on a comprehensive wind resource
assessment, including over two years of data that approximates in-situ
measurements.
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• Economic Optimization & Environmental Modeling. Deepwater engaged
CRA to help design the Project to provide cost-competitive products, compared to
alternative methods to provide firm fossil or renewable based energy to eastern
Long Island.
• Foundation Design. Deepwater worked with leading firms Moffatt & Nichol and
IMS to develop a steel-piled jacket design to effectively support the Siemens 6
MW WTG in the environmental load conditions at the Project site. Moffatt &
Nichol has 40 years of expertise in offshore foundation design and IMS has
designed numerous European offshore wind foundations.
• Transmission Design. Deepwater is working with leading transmission
engineering firms to provide a preliminary front end engineering design of the
transmission system connecting Zone K with the Wind Plant and ISO-NE.
Project Execution
Project construction will be led by Deepwater’s President and COO, one of the leading
offshore construction managers in the world. Deepwater is currently working with
leading global execution contractors to design the Project, including WTG vendors,
transmission system vendors, and foundation fabrication and installation vendors.
Deepwater will finalize its selection of execution contractors in 2013 and 2014 to support
the Project’s timeline. Because the Block Island Wind Farm serves as a demonstrationscale
project in advance of DWEC, Deepwater is actively evaluating and negotiating with
these execution vendors currently.
Retirement/Decommissioning Plan
As the Project approaches the end of its proposed lifecycle, Deepwater will evaluate
potential opportunities to repower the facilities using new technologies and thereby
continue operation for a further period. If continued operation is not feasible, then
Deepwater will properly decommission the facility. A comprehensive decommissioning
plan will be finalized during the engineering, design, and permitting phases of the
Project. Decommissioning based on the reversed installation method has already been
proven effective. As an overview of the decommission plan, Deepwater expects the wind
turbines and their jacket foundations to be decommissioned in compliance with
applicable state and federal guidelines, specifically with the BOEM regulations on the
decommissioning of offshore structures set forth in 30 CFR 250.1700 through 1754.
Deepwater expects that the Project will generate enough cash flow from operations to
cover the costs of decommissioning, which will be partially offset by the salvage value of
the steel jackets and wind towers.
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VIII. Socio-economic Considerations
Community Impacts
One of the unique characteristics of Deepwater’s Project, and most second generation
offshore wind farms, is the fact that it will be virtually invisible from land and is
therefore expected to receive far greater community acceptance than most other utilityscale
resources such as fossil plants, land-based wind farms, and new land-based
transmission lines. The Wind Plant will be located 30 miles east of Montauk and
approximately 15 miles from the closest landmass, Martha’s Vineyard. This location
renders the project virtually invisible from shore. The only permanent visual impact from
the project will be the converter station at Shoreham, which is a site that already contains
significant electrical infrastructure and is far from residential neighborhoods.
The Project will also deliver substantial environmental benefits including improved local
air quality, as described in more detail in Section III. These real and quantifiable benefits
are expected to result in further support from local communities, which is in contrast to
many conventional generation and transmission projects that are often located in lowincome
communities thus raising environmental justice concerns.
Economic Development
The construction and long-term operation of the Wind Plant and Transmission System
will create a large number of jobs throughout the region. Construction of the land-based
electrical infrastructure at its Shoreham interconnection point will be labor intensive;
Deepwater will also explore the use of existing LIPA-owned land in Shoreham for a
Project control room, which would create full-time employment opportunities for the
duration of the Project.
Deepwater is also interested in partnering arrangements, where appropriate, with many of
New York State’s leading energy research and technology transfer organizations to
explore opportunities to utilize the Wind Plant and Transmission System as a platform for
studying and piloting various smart grid and ocean-based renewable energy technologies.
Deepwater is already working closely with the New York State Energy Research and
Development Authority and the Advanced Energy Research and Technology Center at
the State University of New York at Stony Brook, and is actively exploring partnering
opportunities with Brookhaven National Laboratory, the Long Island Forum for
Technology, and others. Deepwater believes that through this collaboration it can help
the state attract investment to downstate New York to further the green energy sector
goals established in the Long Island Regional Economic Development Council plan.
These collaborations and the development of the offshore wind energy industry in the
region have the potential to spur the development of additional research and
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development, manufacturing, and operations and maintenance jobs in New York. As the
offshore wind industry has grown in Europe, thousands of jobs have been created to
manufacture components for and operate offshore wind farms. This has been possible
only because Europe has supported a pipeline of utility-scale projects in the region.
DWEC represents the first utility-scale offshore wind project in this region. As such, it
represents the first step in the build out of what could be a substantial regional industry,
delivering high-wage, skilled jobs to New Yorkers.
Taxes and/or PILOT Agreements
Deepwater expects to be a taxpayer in Suffolk County, the Village of Shoreham, and the
Shoreham-Wading River Central School District (assuming grid interconnection is built
at the Shoreham site). As development of the Project progresses, Deepwater will
consider the benefits of entering into a PILOT agreement with these taxing districts.
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IX. Project Status
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On March 31, 2011, Deepwater submitted a bid from this Project to LIPA’s Generation
and Transmission RFP for up to 2,500 MW issued on August 20, 2010. An award by
LIPA of a Power Purchase Agreement for DWEC could materially accelerate the site
control and permitting process.
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X. Public Outreach
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Deepwater recognizes the importance of community outreach and engagement. The
Project offers significant benefits to New York State and Long Island. Deepwater is
currently implementing a plan to communicate those benefits to LIPA’s ratepayers. This
plan has been informed by the thousands of megawatts of wind project development with
which Deepwater’s management and its Board of Managers have been involved.
The Project is expected to be cost-comparable with other new sources of generation and,
as such, is expected to have minimal bill impacts on LIPA’s customers as compared to
other new supply sources. At the same time, the Project offers compelling systemic
benefits that differentiate it. Specifically, the Project is designed to further LIPA’s 2010
to 2020 Electric Resource Plan by:
1) diversifying its generation portfolio to improve system reliability;
2) advancing its hedging program to reduce energy price volatility;
3) cost-effectively increasing it’s renewable energy generation; and
4) providing significant near-term reduction in greenhouse gas and criteria pollutant
emissions.
Deepwater has also been working closely with the members of the Long Island Offshore
Wind Coalition (http://www.windworks4li.org/ ) that was formed in December 2011 and
includes leading business, industry, labor and environmental groups in downstate New
York.
Deepwater will continue to engage important stakeholders in New York, including
ratepayer, business, labor, environmental, marine trades and community groups among
others.
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XI. Other Considerations
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Future Potential Offshore Wind Projects Serving Downstate
Deepwater has identified promising areas in the New York Bight where utility-scale
offshore wind farms combined with HVDC transmission networks similar in concept to
DWEC-NELI would be suitable. Projects located in this area will be well positioned to
serve the growing demand of the larger Zone J market as well the load pockets in western
Long Island and even northern New Jersey. And, waterfront sites with good port
facilities exist in New York Harbor that could eventually be utilized for the development
of new offshore wind activities. However, since the waters of the New York Bight have
not yet undergone the same rigorous survey, baseline data collection, and stakeholder
engagement process as those east of Long Island any wind farm located in this area will
likely have a commercial operations date that is at least two years behind that of DWEC-
NELI.
Deepwater’s strategy is to pursue the development of a second project located in the New
York Bight by taking advantage of its later commercial operation date to apply the
“lessons learned” from its 30 MW Block Island demonstration project (COD of 2013-
2014) and the DWEC project (COD of 2017-2018). This longer timeline will also allow
for a more gradual expansion of the region’s offshore wind industry labor force, support
services, and supply chain.
To this end, for the last several years, Deepwater has been actively developing a second
project to be located in the New York Bight southeast of New York City that includes a
utility-scale offshore wind plant, Hudson Canyon Wind Farm (HCWF), combined with
an offshore transmission network, Submarine Regional Transmission line (SMRT Line),
that is designed to primarily supply Zone J.
Deepwater’s New York Bight project will supply energy, capacity, wind farm
environmental attributes, and firm transmission capacity to Zone J. The 900 MW Wind
Plant would deliver power to the SMRT Line offshore substation and the first power
generated, up to the 550 MW capacity of SMRT Line, will be transmitted to Zone J.
During periods when the output of HCWF is greater than 550 MW, the additional power
will be delivered to PJM East. During hours when the energy output of HCWF is less
than 550 MW, Zone J will have the ability to import power from PJM over the remaining
capacity on SMRT Line resulting in 550 MW of firm power for Zone J.
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Project Benefits
Deepwater’s NY Bight project would produce a number of reliability benefits similar to
those created by DWEC-NELI resulting from new capacity in Zone J, the creation of a
new interconnection to a neighboring energy market, and increased fuel diversity. To
confirm the specific market price suppression and emission reduction benefits of this NY
Bight project, Deepwater commissioned a study by CRA of the impacts on both the New
York and New Jersey electric systems. CRA estimated the price suppression benefits to
be substantial and of the same order of magnitude as those created by the DWEC project.
Additionally, this NY Bight project would result in approximately 10 million tons of CO2
emissions reduction and 6,000 tons of NOx emissions reductions in New York State.
CRA also modeled the impacts of the Project on the PJM system and found that as a
result of the injection of peak period power from the Wind Plant New Jersey would
benefit from an annual net reduction in average wholesale prices as well as a net
reduction in emissions. The net reduction in emissions is due in part to the injections
from the Wind Plant but also to the relatively more efficient and lower emitting natural
gas plants that would be dispatched when PJM system power was being exported to Zone
J.
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Interconnections
In New York, SMRT Line will interconnect with and deliver power to NYISO Zone J at
Con Edison’s Gowanus 345 kV substation. Con Edison has reviewed the proposed
interconnection location and determined it to be feasible. Deepwater’s wholly-owned
subsidiary – New York Wire, LLC – holds NYISO queue position #307 and has
completed an Interconnection Feasibility Study for this location. Deepwater also
executed a NYISO SRIS agreement on August 18, 2010.
This substation was chosen in large part because of recent upgrades that allow it to accept
a new high-voltage interconnection without the need for expensive system upgrades.
Gowanus is also ideally located on the waterfront with a number of sites in the immediate
vicinity where a converter station could be located.
In New Jersey, SMRT Line will interconnect at the JCP&L’s Larrabee 138 kV substation
where Deepwater, through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Big Bight Transco, holds
interconnection queue position V3-026. Deepwater has completed the PJM
Interconnection Feasibility Study and is awaiting the results of the System Impact Study.
Deepwater selected the Larrabee substation as the most appropriate point of
interconnection for several reasons, but primarily because it is located south of the more
congested portion of New Jersey’s electric grid, which means that firming power can be
exported to Zone J more readily (i.e., without substantially increasing congestion in the
area), and more cost effectively.
Alternative Wind Farm Sites
The federal waters off New York City hold the potential of supplying a large quantity of
offshore wind to serve the load pockets of Zones J and K. Deepwater has commissioned
a series of desktop studies that suggest that there are at least two general areas that would
be suitable for offshore wind development. The first, the northern site, is the area that
was identified by the Collaborative and for which NYPA submitted an unsolicited lease
request last December to BOEM. The other site is one that is situated southwest of the
Collaborative site and has similar characteristics.
While some differences exist between these two development areas, including water
depths and the projected wind resource, Deepwater has concluded that the sites are
roughly equivalent from a wind farm development perspective. Therefore, while some
modifications might be required it should be feasible to design the SMRT Line network
to serve either or both development sites, which is why Deepwater has spent several
years investing in these interconnection positions.
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