Projects Build on the State’s Ongoing Efforts to Expand Knowledge Regarding Important Environmental, Maritime, Economic and Social Issues Identified in New York’s Offshore Wind Master Plan
Advances Governor Cuomo’s Nation-Leading Goal of 9,000 Megawatts of Offshore Wind by 2035 as Codified Under the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act
The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) today announced it has selected five multi-year projects totaling more than $2 million to further study important environmental and commercial fishing topics to support the responsible development of offshore wind. These projects advance Governor Andrew M. Cuomo’s nation-leading Green New Deal goal of 9,000 megawatts of offshore wind by 2035 as codified under the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA).
Alicia Barton, President and CEO, NYSERDA said, “As New York becomes the national epicenter for the U.S. offshore wind industry, we continue to undertake evidence-based environmental and commercial fishing related research to help us advance offshore wind development in way that is sensitive to the environment, ocean and the economy. These projects expand our efforts to mitigate potential impacts of offshore wind energy development and will help protect the State’s coastal resources and marine environment ensuring these resources can be enjoyed for generations to come.”
Today’s announcement builds on New York’s commitment to responsibly develop offshore wind as a renewable energy source by collecting data and conducting analysis identified by stakeholders as necessary to allowing informed decision making about how to best mitigate impacts to marine wildlife and industries. NYSERDA’s efforts to analyze and collect new offshore environmental data began in 2017, via digital aerial surveys of birds, marine mammals, sharks and fish shoals. This three-year survey concluded this past spring after collecting more than 3.5 million images across the New York Bight. This survey was one of more than 20 studies NYSERDA has undertaken to provide current information about potential environmental and social sensitivities, economic and practical considerations, and regulatory requirements associated with offshore wind energy development identified under New York’s Offshore Wind Master Plan. These newly selected projects support independent research to build upon this scientific and technical foundation by further addressing environmental, maritime, economic and social issues.
Research conducted as a result of these projects will include significant stakeholder engagement and the results will be made available to the public to encourage broad use and inform additional studies. Advancing understanding of potential wildlife and fisheries interactions with offshore wind will support sound planning, address stakeholder concerns and accelerate offshore wind project development by identifying and reducing risks early in the process.
New York’s commitment to engaging with the commercial fishing industry and environmental organizations around offshore wind is exemplified by the requirement for selected offshore wind developers to provide Fisheries and Environmental Mitigation Plans with their proposals, and the requirement that the selected developers engage directly with the State’s industry based Technical Working Groups to evolve these plans throughout the development process.
In addition to these interactions, NYSERDA last month issued a request for proposals seeking an individual to undertake the role of a first-of-its-kind New York State offshore wind fisheries liaison to assist the State in expanding its ongoing outreach to, and engagement with, commercial and recreation fishing communities in the New York Bight and the greater Mid-Atlantic and new England region. The deadline for applications is August 19, 2019. The fisheries liaison solicitation is one of many efforts NYSERDA has commenced over the last three years to ensure commercial fishing interests are considered in the development of the state’s offshore wind resource.
To further a strong understanding of marine ecosystem function and the timing and relative density of wildlife in the area including migratory whales, fish, birds and bats, recently NYSERDA also launched two meteorological and oceanographic (“metocean”) buoys to study the conditions in the waters off the Atlantic coast of New York. The metocean buoys are also equipped with wildlife sensing equipment. Better characterization of the wind, wave, ocean currents and wildlife will help increase certainty of development conditions to advance project layout, turbine siting and engineering, and seasonal construction schedules, ultimately reducing the cost of offshore wind energy.
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Basil Seggos said, “As New York continues its national leadership role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and fighting climate change through renewable energy, DEC commends Governor Cuomo and NYSERDA for funding environmental and fisheries research initiatives that will ensure offshore wind is developed in a responsible manner. These projects will help foster the development of offshore renewable technologies while continuing to protect our state’s invaluable ocean resources and fishing community.”
Approximately $2 million was made available as part of this competitive solicitation for projects in one of five categories: (1) ecosystem dynamics, (2) commercial fishing access, (3) approaches for offshore wind pre- and post-construction monitoring, (4) leveraging non-tradition data, and (5) modeling the effects of offshore wind developments. Proposals were evaluated based on their anticipated contributions to reducing risk to wildlife and fisheries, informing the offshore wind development process, applying to the Mid-Atlantic Bight and New England waters, including interdisciplinary teams including ocean users, and leveraging out-of-State, federal or other resources to address offshore wind development.
The selected projects include:
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) with the Responsible Offshore Development Alliance (RODA) and others – Collaborative Development of Strategies and Tools to Address Commercial Fishing: A two-year, $500,000 project to address the need to understand and develop solutions for safe and efficient access to fishing grounds, while also ensuring that offshore energy projects meet their operational goals.
Responsible Offshore Development Alliance (RODA) – Creation of a “Data Trust” for Effective Inclusion of Fishermen’s Knowledge in Offshore Wind Energy Decision Making: A one-year, nearly $300,000 project to develop high-quality, evidence-based science products that can improve decision-making for offshore wind development, with additional benefits for ecosystem-based assessment and fisheries stock assessment and management.
Biodiversity Research Institute – Multi-Scale Relationships Between Marine Predators and Forage Fish: A three-year, nearly $500,000 project designed to better understand the linkages between forage fish and seabirds and implications of offshore wind development on seabird behaviors and distribution.
Ecology and Environment – Environmental and Fisheries Research for Offshore Wind: An 18-month, $500,000 project to develop spatially and temporally dynamic information about the distribution of oceanographic characteristic in the New York Bight through the development and application of a dedicated multi-year 3-D flow model to wildlife distribution movements.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service – Development of Monitoring Protocols for Nanotag Studies at Offshore Wind Farms: A two-year, nearly $300,000 project to develop standardized guidelines to inform the use of miniature digitally-coded VHF (very high frequency) transmitters to monitor birds and bats in relation to offshore wind energy development.
Rebecca Green, PhD, Senior Project Leader, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, said: “Our strongly multi-disciplinary team will collaboratively develop strategies and tools to address commercial fishing access in U.S. offshore wind farms, ensuring that the industries co-exist in an economically, operationally relevant, and meaningful way. It is critical to develop solutions which preserve fishermen’s ability to safely and effectively continue historic fishing practices to the maximum extent possible, while working closely with OSW developers to ensure that projects meet energy generation and operational goals. Our team brings the combination of fishing industry knowledge, wind farm technical skills, and external advisory support required to effectively meet NYSERDA’s intent to develop solutions for increasing fishing access to U.S. offshore wind farms.”
Annie Hawkins, Executive Director, Responsible Offshore Development Alliance, said, “All of us at RODA are thrilled for this opportunity to develop an industry-driven data infrastructure, allowing fishermen’s extensive knowledge to be better incorporated into decision making while retaining their individual privacy. We believe this will be a major contributor to deconflicting multiple ocean uses and appreciate NYSERDA’s recognition of the importance of our fishing communities’ deep expertise regarding ocean ecosystems.”
Evan Adams, PhD, Quantitative Ecologist, Biodiversity Research Institute, said, “Forage fish like herring and menhaden are critical components of marine food webs. This collaborative research project is focused on quantifying the importance of forage fish to the movements, abundance, and population trends of marine predators. We thank NYSERDA for funding this research so that we can better understand the effects of offshore wind development on these complex and dynamic ecosystems.”
Sarah Courbis, Marine Mammal Specialist, Ecology & Environment, Inc., said, “Ecology & Environment, Inc. and DHI Water & Environment, Inc. are looking forward to further advancing understanding of potential environmental impacts of offshore wind and informing mitigation needs. Environmentally sustainable siting, planning, and development of offshore wind requires a strong scaffold of research and ecological knowledge.”
Pamela H. Loring, PhD, Wildlife Biologist, Division of Migratory Birds, Northeast Region, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said, “We look forward to working with NYSERDA and partners from Biodiversity Research Institute, University of Rhode Island, Bird Studies Canada, and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to develop standardized protocols for tracking avian and bat movements offshore. Results from this effort will help to inform and coordinate wildlife monitoring programs at offshore wind energy areas throughout the U.S. Atlantic, addressing key information needs for environmental assessments.”
These projects represent an important new chapter in New York’s nation-leading offshore wind planning efforts, which have been conducted over three years and have included extensive stakeholder, agency, and public consultation along with detailed technical and financial analysis. These planning efforts provided the basis for New York’s Offshore Wind Master Plan, released in January 2018, and the New York State Public Service Commission’s July 2018 Order Establishing Offshore Wind Standard and Framework for Phase 1 Procurement, which established the foundation for this important step forward.
Last month, Governor Cuomo also announced the winners of New York’s first comprehensive wind solicitation – the Empire Wind and Sunrise Wind projects – totaling nearly 1,700 megawatts. As the single largest renewable energy procurement made by a state in U.S. history, these two projects are expected to produce enough offshore wind energy to power more than one million homes and support more than 1,600 jobs with a combined economic activity of $3.2 billion statewide, helping to jump start progress towards New York’s unprecedented offshore wind goal.
This effort is supported by the Clean Energy Fund. More information is available on NYSERDA’s offshore wind website.
New York State’s Green New Deal
Governor Cuomo’s Green New Deal is the most aggressive climate change program in the nation and puts the state on a path to being entirely carbon-neutral across all sectors of the economy, including power generation, transportation, buildings, industry and agriculture. The Governor’s program also establishes a goal to achieve a zero-carbon emissions electricity sector by 2040, faster than any state in the nation. The recently passed Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act mandates several of the Governor’s ambitious Green New Deal clean energy targets: installing nine gigawatts of offshore wind by 2035; six gigawatts of distributed solar by 2025 and three gigawatts of energy storage by 2030. The CLCPA also calls for an orderly and just transition to clean energy, creating jobs while spurring a green economy. It builds on New York’s unprecedented ramp-up of clean energy including a $2.9 billion investment in 46 large-scale renewable projects across the state, the creation of more than 150,000 jobs in New York’s clean energy sector and 1,700% growth in the distributed solar sector since 2012. The CLCPA also directs New York State’s agencies and authorities to work collaboratively with stakeholders to develop a plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 85% from 1990 levels by 2050, and to work toward a goal of investing 40% of clean energy and energy efficiency resources to benefit disadvantaged communities.
About the Clean Energy Fund
The 10-year, $5.3 billion Clean Energy Fund (CEF) is a core component of New York State’s Reforming the Energy Vision strategy to achieve a clean, resilient and affordable energy system for all New Yorkers. The CEF includes a focused effort to bring more clean energy opportunities and benefits to low- to moderate-income communities and is designed to deliver on New York State’s commitment to accelerate the use of clean energy and energy innovation and drive economic development, while reducing ratepayer collections. NY Green Bank, a core component of the CEF, has generated $59.8 million in positive net income as a result of $737.6 million in investments in clean energy transactions across New York. The $1 billion NY-Sun initiative has already helped facilitate a nearly 1,700 percent increase in solar deployment since 2011. The CEF supports the proposed increase in New York’s Clean Energy Standard requiring 70 percent of the state’s electricity to come from renewable energy sources by 2030 as part of Governor Cuomo’s nation-leading Green New Deal.
About NYSERDA
NYSERDA, a public benefit corporation, offers objective information and analysis, innovative programs, technical expertise, and funding to help New Yorkers increase energy efficiency, save money, use renewable energy, and reduce reliance on fossil fuels. NYSERDA professionals work to protect the environment and create clean-energy jobs. NYSERDA has been developing partnerships to advance innovative energy solutions in New York State since 1975. To learn more about NYSERDA’s programs and funding opportunities, visit nyserda.ny.gov or follow us on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, or Instagram.