Deepwater Wind - Energy Highway

!
!
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
!
25