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Offshore wind is emerging in the US as an essential renewable energy source that will help us reduce our contribution of greenhouse gas emissions and meet our climate targets while ensuring a more sustainable and livable future. The New York City Metropolitan Area is a national leader in offshore wind development where - as of June 2023 - New York and New Jersey are on track to implement eight offshore wind projects, delivering 8,100 MW of wind power into our grid by 2030. That’s enough energy to power just over four million homes, with close to an additional 12,000 MW committed by the states yet to come. And that’s likely just the beginning.

But even though offshore wind farms will be generating power from 10 miles or more from the nearest coastline, that energy will need to be transmitted from the ocean to points onshore and connect into our existing electric grid to be able to power our homes, businesses and critical infrastructure. We’ve never before brought in power from the ocean to the shore, so the efforts around offshore wind transmission will be significant and will require cooperation from numerous coastal communities and those along the onshore routes that connect to the grid.

This next phase is critical and imminent, with opposition to these projects seemingly on the rise, how well we proceed in getting transmission done right for the first offshore wind projects - while planning for the next - could determine how successful we are in advancing offshore wind at a scale and pace that will help us to avoid the very worst impacts of climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the power sector.

To better understand what can be expected in offshore wind transmission and to advance implementation in ways that provide the most beneficial outcomes for all stakeholders in New York and New Jersey communities, this report builds on joint research and interviews with well over a dozen individuals representing a variety of organizations focused on offshore wind development, transmission development, government, labor, environmental justice, and community interests. It takes a critical look at the issue of transmission and focuses specifically on:

Taking stock of the current state of offshore wind development and highlighting the need to upgrade and reorient our power grid to accommodate offshore wind power;
Taking a deep dive into the process of offshore wind transmission to understand its potential impacts on communities; and
Helping to communicate a clear understanding of the opportunities for all stakeholders to bring about beneficial outcomes in communities around transmission

The report will conclude with a look at what’s next on the horizon for offshore wind transmission as well as thoughts on how our region can model success.

Key Findings

The implementation of offshore wind power is essential to states in our region meeting their climate targets and helping us avoid the worst impacts of climate change.
The power capacity of an offshore wind farm is at a scale that will allow the replacement of fossil-generated power facilities and peaker plants over time. With the 8,100 MW of wind power in the confirmed pipeline, as much as seven million tons of CO2 per year could be offset.
Multiple offshore wind transmission projects are coming.
New York and New Jersey will see the implementation of eight different offshore wind projects anticipated within the next six years, with more promised for the future, meaning at least eight onshore transmission routes will need to connect to the grid over that same time across 15 different municipalities.
Offshore wind presents the opportunity to build the grid we need.
There are limited interconnection points along the region’s coast, meaning grid upgrades, coordinated onshore transmission, and likely eventual meshed networks in the ocean will be needed to make offshore wind a reality and maximize its potential for delivering clean energy into our homes..
Transmission projects will affect communities, but in largely temporary ways.
Communities in the transmission pathway will be temporarily impacted by projects to connect offshore wind power into the grid, namely roadway closures and construction, while some will be asked to permanently host transmission infrastructure. Public processes around transmission at the local level to determine approvals for access and use of publicly controlled land can often serve as a forum for both offshore wind supporters and opponents to discuss potential impacts, elevate opportunities, and raise concerns. Getting this process right is essential to advancing offshore wind.
Communities can share in the benefits of transmission implementation projects.
In addition to the global and local benefits of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, communities that host offshore wind transmission infrastructure (cables, converters, substations, etc.), can achieve beneficial outcomes both broadly and directly, from regional employment opportunities to community benefit packages that can bring financial support to meet community needs and establish the working relationship between developer and municipality. Achieving equitable and beneficial outcomes requires active engagement and coordination among government, industry, and special interest organizations, along with residents and local stakeholders.

1

Introduction

Climate change is here and its impacts are worsening. Without dramatic action to drastically cut greenhouse gas emissions, the worst impacts of climate change will continue to set in, altering all aspects of life and threatening the viability of human and non-human populations globally. It is not hyperbole to say that the climate crisis is an existential crisis — one that disproportionately affects members of our communities who live with far fewer advantages and continue to endure the impacts of systemic, historic, and continued marginalization.

Recognizing the severity of the threat and the need to take action, the states of New York and New Jersey have made meaningful commitments to greenhouse gas emissions reductions bolstered by policies to ensure they are met. New York State’s Climate Leadership & Community Protection Act (NY CLCPA), passed in 2019, outlines targets that aim to clean the grid and achieve the state’s climate goals. The bill, which requires that 40% of state energy funding be invested in historically disadvantaged communities, specifically sets emissions targets at: 70% renewable energy by 2030, 100% clean electricity by 2040, and 85% economy-wide GHG reductions (compared to baseline 1990 levels) by 2050. In February of 2023, Governor Phil Murphy of New Jersey announced an updated plan to combat climate change by bringing the state to 100% clean energy by 2035, as detailed in executive order no. 315. This builds on the state’s 2019 Energy Master Plan, and the 2020 80x50 report, which respectively set targets and outlines a plan for the state to reach 80% emissions reductions by 2050.

A critical component to both states reaching their climate and renewable energy goals is the successful proliferation of offshore wind. As part of each state’s larger transition to renewable energy sources, NYSERDA (New York State Energy Research and Development Authority) has committed to developing 9,000 megawatts of offshore wind energy by the year 2035 and Gov. Murphy signed off on executive order no. 307 in 2022, which increased New Jersey’s offshore wind goals to a target generation of 11,000 megawatts by 2040.

Such ambitious state goals, along with government investments in ports and supply chain, workforce training, and ongoing power solicitation schedules all send a clear signal that New York and New Jersey are committed to developing offshore wind as a means of transitioning energy supplies to renewable sources while developing a new industry with good, green/blue jobs.

An Opportunity to Advance Equity & Justice

Communities of color and those with lower incomes disproportionately face the brunt of the impacts of climate change as a result of historic development patterns and policy decisions that leave them living with a legacy of public health hazards and other environmental injustices. As our state and federal governments seek measures to right these historic wrongs, the emergence of offshore wind as both a cleaner source of power and an emerging industry offers opportunities for equity and justice, far better than other “green job” efforts of the past. Such opportunities include:

Replacing polluting, health-threatening sources of power located in frontline communities with clean power.
Creating a domestic workforce and supply chain that will provide well paid, safe, and accessible jobs in a clean industry.
Providing education and workforce development to support the U.S. workers who will help build offshore wind.
Repairing and reviving communities that host fossil fuel infrastructure via investments and repurposing old or unused sites to foster the new wind industry.

As climate investments related to offshore wind begin to take root, there is an unprecedented opportunity to leverage this transition in ways that advance equity, justice, and prosperity in communities that have been denied them in the past.

What is offshore wind?

Humans have been using the power of the wind for many centuries for such activities as powering boats (5000 BC), pumping water and grinding grain (2000 BC), food production (11th Century), sawing wood (1800s), and eventually generating electric power (late 19th/early 20th Century).

Utility-scale wind power generation began as a land-based endeavor, pioneered here in the US in California in the early 1980s following the global oil shortages of the 1970s which resulted in federal and state support and legislation for renewable energy. The first in-water, offshore wind project in the world was developed in Denmark in 1991 by the company that is today known as Ørsted. This eleven turbine farm was operational for over 25 years, provided power for 2,200 homes, and launched the global offshore wind industry that is rapidly growing today.

Since that first offshore wind farm,10 countries, including the United States, have now developed offshore wind projects, totaling a global wind capacity of 63,000 MW as of 2022. Continued technical innovations have allowed for enhanced turbines, with larger blades and able to reach higher into the sky, where wind currents are stronger, but the basic premise remains the same: blades housed atop the turbine’s tower harness wind power, to generate electrical energy carried via cables that emerge from its foundational component, and connect to an offshore substation that collects the energy from turbines into fewer cables that come ashore and connect to the grid. This energy becomes the electricity used to power our homes, devices, and the multitude of assets dependent on electric power to function.

Turbines will be located 10 or more miles offshore, making them hard to see from land.

Even though offshore turbines are hard to see from land, they are quite large — about half the height of the Empire State Building.

Today’s offshore wind turbines can be over 800 feet, including blades that stretch to 350 feet in length, and have the capacity to generate 14 MW of power per turbine

Today, the US counts one wind farm in operation off the coast of Rhode Island serving the Block Island community. The first wind farm set to deliver power to the Tri-State Region is scheduled to begin operation by the end of 2023, part of an estimated 43,115 MW of offshore wind energy currently in the pipeline for eastern coastal states. In sum, offshore wind energy generation is now more than ever positioned to be a significant part of a carbon-neutral revolution. Today’s turbines are as tall as 800 feet with blades that stretch to 350 feet in length and have the capacity to generate 14 MW of power per turbine.

Why offshore wind in our region?

The New York metropolitan region is at the heart of a major US demand center whose electricity needs are only forecast to grow as population and development increase and greater reliance on technology, including shifts to automobile- and building- electrification asks more of our grid. As electrified buildings rely more and more on the grid for heat, our region is projected to shift to have winter peak demand by 2040. At the same time, climate and renewable energy goals, regulations such as the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), and the long term efforts of climate and environmental justice advocates ushering in a just transition away from polluting power plants, are all amplifying the importance of implementing viable alternatives to fossil-generated power. With scarce available land for utility-scale onshore wind or solar farms in our region, offshore wind stands out as the leading alternative to scale up electric power generation, while scaling down greenhouse gas emissions.

The demand for electricity in the New York-New Jersey region is high and likely to grow, while the two states also must transition away from fossil fuels.

The ocean waters beyond our region’s coast are a particularly optimal location to support offshore wind, thanks to high wind speeds and a large buildable section of the Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), a wide and shallow portion of bedrock that extends out into the ocean. It is on this section of the OCS where federal lease areas have been auctioned to offshore wind developers, and where the first turbines will soon be constructed to deliver power to our region, while ushering in a wholly new industry with economic development and workforce opportunities for communities.

Offshore Wind, Energy Transmission & Communities

Offshore wind development is a multi-pronged process, involving complex and interconnected layers of federal, state, and local government oversight and approvals, across multiple stages; interspersed with public engagement; resulting in the construction of turbine farms and cables in the ocean, transmission infrastructure and grid updates on land, and port and manufacturing facilities in strategic locations; and physically and economically impacting communities throughout our region.

Unlike other reports that have focused on the technical efforts required to build wind farms in the ocean, or advance manufacturing and ports facilities on land, this report highlights offshore wind transmission, which is literally where offshore wind projects meet the communities serving as landing points for wind farm cables, hosting miles-long transmission corridors in public rights-of-way, and providing points of interconnection to the grid.

Communities in the offshore wind transmission pathway, like any others hosting major infrastructure improvements, both enjoy the benefits and face the drawbacks of project impacts. From the temporary disruption of torn up roads to lay down cables, or the permanent use of land to house a converter station or other grid expansions, some communities will be asked to host a greater share of infrastructure, in order that all communities in the region can benefit from cleaner, renewable energy and the ripple effects of a new industry with good jobs now firmly taking root.

Because local approval for these activities is required, communities in the transmission pathway are becoming the focal points for both support and opposition. The prospect of transmission projects within certain neighborhoods brings forth a wider opportunity to educate communities about the environmental and economic development benefits of offshore wind, but also allows for opponents to dig in and try to delay or stop offshore wind projects. That makes engaging with these communities around the offshore wind transmission implementation process critically important.

Given the worsening climate crisis, it is imperative that offshore wind development face as few obstacles as possible, outside of the usual regulatory procedure, in order that we may transition away from polluting and warming-inducing fossil fuels.

Government agencies, offshore wind developers and contractors, and local residents and stakeholders must find ways to collaborate and achieve mutually beneficial outcomes for the good of the local community, and the greater needs of the planet.

2

Offshore Wind and the Electric Grid

Every time we flip a switch to turn on a light or plug a smartphone charger into an outlet, we are tapping into a vast and long-established network of power plants, substations, transformers, and power lines known as the electric grid, that manages and moves electrons which power our communities. Given our ever-increasing reliance on electricity, the grid is an essential component of everyday life, even if it is largely out of sight, operating in the background.

First constructed in the early 1900s, the grid is continually being modified and improved to ensure reliability, reduce vulnerabilities, expand capacity to meet growing demand, and connect to new sources of power generation. If we are to meet the greenhouse gas emissions reduction and offshore wind goals that have been established, we will need to quickly and more significantly upgrade and expand the grid to accommodate offshore wind - locally and across the nation.

Currently, all power in the region is generated from onshore sources, primarily nuclear power plants and fossil- (natural gas, oil, and coal) fueled power plants, along with some solar installations and hydropower facilities. The power generated by these facilities moves along a network of large and small power lines that connect through substations and transformers - where electricity is stepped up or stepped down, depending on where it is in the network - eventually reaching our towns. The general pattern of distribution has been compared to the human circulatory system, with the heart pumping blood through a network of large arteries that branch off into smaller vessels, capillaries, at our extremities, and with large cables, veins, that bring power back.

The majority of our region’s power generation is located inland, with far fewer facilities along the coast. As power-generating turbine farms are constructed some 10 miles or more out in the ocean, and the power they generate is brought to shore, the current grid is limited in accommodating the flow of electrons from ocean to shore. Two specific limits include:

There is an insufficient number of facilities near the coast to plug offshore wind farms into the grid.

As described above, there are a limited number of suitable locations on or near the coast with the capacity to accept the large influx of power from offshore wind farms. The majority of grid sites located along the coast - primarily smaller substations with low capacity wires - cannot be used to accept such large infusions of power. In the circulatory system analogy, it would be akin to trying to hooking up the heart directly to the small capillaries. As more offshore wind projects are developed, the limited supply of places to connect will eventually diminish to none, leaving states with an interconnection bottleneck. In short, we have the space to develop far greater energy capacity than we currently have places to plug in.

The current grid is not equipped to accept so much power and faces risk of overload

Even with enough places to connect planned offshore wind farms, the amount of power set to flow into the grid with offshore wind and other alternative energy sources across the region (land-based wind, solar, batteries, etc.) could overload the capacity of the current system, leading to a disruption in power supply as wires overheat and fail, for instance. We need upgraded substations and more and greater capacity wires to carry the energy being generated across a more distributed system than we currently have. Grid operators - such as PJM in New Jersey and NYISO in New York - are working to plan for this new future and have issued both requests for innovative ways to upgrade the grid, but until these modifications are made, PJM has placed a freeze on new applications for grid upgrades and alternative energy projects until 2026 in order to work through the backlog of applications. While not likely to affect the very first set of offshore wind projects, such a backlog will ultimately slow the implementation of the next and future set of projects, compounding an already slow process at a time when expediency is essential.

Given the limitations of the current grid, there is a mismatch between the goals for offshore wind projects, and what the grid can accommodate. A recent national analysis on the importance of electricity transmission expansion to unlock the full emissions reduction potential of the Inflation Reduction Act by Princeton-led ZERO LAB found that the grid would need to be expanded twice as fast in the next decade as it has in the past ten years to achieve climate benefits, particularly as more cars and buildings become electrified. This would mean constructing new power lines and substations across the system of grids throughout the country, and including along our coast.

The Electric Grid and Offshore Wind Transmission

The current state of OSW projects in NY/NJ

So, how far along are we in developing offshore wind in our region? Developing offshore wind — from identifying lease areas in the ocean to beginning the flow of electricity is a lengthy process, with numerous regulatory, permitting, and significant public engagement requirements. In total, the process takes approximately ten years and includes the federal, state and local governments as well as a variety of other stakeholders.

But, New Jersey and New York are making significant headway towards their renewable energy targets, with several wind farms at various stages of development. Between the two states, there are a total of 15 lease areas awarded to developers that could deliver as much power as 18,000 MW total, if all were developed. Currently, there are eight projects procured by the states and under development in all or a portion of seven lease areas, with a proposed 8,100 MW in the pipeline to be developed by 2030. That’s enough energy to power 4.2 million homes in the region.

In New Jersey, Ocean Wind 1 & 2 (2,248 MW) and Atlantic Shores South (1,510 MW) are through the first stage of development - site assessment - and are projected to bring in a total of 3, 758 MW of wind energy to the state well before 2035, enough to power just under 2 million homes. In New York State, the big projects underway are South Fork Wind (under construction), Empire Wind 1 and 2, Sunrise Wind, and Beacon Wind (through site assessment), which would total a proposed 4,342 MW of energy generation with the last project expected to be operational by the late 2020s. The combination of projects in the pipeline puts New York State at 48% of its 2035 goal of 9,000 MW and is estimated to bring power to almost 2.6 million homes.

The projects described above came about as a result of two different solicitations by each state. New York and New Jersey have committed to a combined 12,000 MW of additional wind power projects in order to help meet their renewable energy targets. A third solicitation is currently open in New Jersey for an additional 1,200 MW, and closed in New York earlier this year for at least 2,000 MW of offshore wind power (results forthcoming).

3

Understanding Offshore Wind Transmission and Its Impacts

As has been discussed, an offshore wind farm is only useful if it is connected into the electric power grid that delivers electricity to our communities. Because offshore wind is so new to the U.S. and to our region, the process to connect offshore wind farms to the grid is little experienced, leaving a critical knowledge gap for those communities that will play a role in transmission. The following section seeks to clarify what the transmission process entails and how it may - mostly temporarily - impact the communities through which transmission projects are implemented. With at least six transmission projects set to break ground over the next decade, understanding each phase of transmission development will better help communities and related stakeholders prepare for what comes next and ensure close collaboration with the state and developers to secure beneficial outcomes, while minimizing impacts and any related opposition that would result in delays.

The process to get from wind farm to grid

Offshore wind transmission can be defined in numerous ways. For the purposes of this report, we consider transmission to include all steps of offshore wind power generation from a given wind farm’s offshore substation - the final offshore piece of energy infrastructure - to landing onshore and connecting into the grid, after any necessary conversions in the type of electricity being generated. This report also discusses grid modifications in order to receive offshore wind energy (e.g. higher voltage power lines, etc.) as part of offshore wind transmission.

The following illustrations detail the components of offshore wind transmission and includes a discussion of steps taken to minimize community impacts.

Turbine

Sitting at the very top of a wind turbine are blades that fan out from the center hub and can begin spinning from wind speeds of up to 13 mph. The tower, which holds the blades and hub, is set on a foundation built into the ocean floor approximately 80 meters below the water’s surface. New York and New Jersey are also in the process of setting up manufacturing centers for these components. In New London, CT, the new State Pier Terminal has been essential to the storage and assembly of several wind projects, including Long Island’s South Fork Wind farm.

Community impact: Once operational, turbines have little to no community impact, given their location 10 or more miles offshore.

Offshore Substation

Attached at the foundation of the turbine are the array cables which connect and transmit energy from each individual turbine to a nearby offshore substation. Receiving the power from multiple turbines, the offshore substation is responsible for stepping the electrical energy up to a higher voltage to be transmitted to the network onshore. These stations are necessary for larger projects that are further than 10 miles from shore. Offshore substations are also useful in preventing energy losses as they allow electricity to be stored and transported by export cables at a higher voltage.

Community impact: Just like turbines, offshore substations have little to no community impact, given their location 10 or miles offshore.

Offshore Sub Offshore Wind Spot Illustrations Tall

Offshore Export Cable

The export cable, which is much larger than the array cable and able to carry a higher voltage of energy--anywhere between 230kV to 525kV compared to the maximum 66kV that an array cable can carry--emerges from the offshore substation, runs under the seabed, and eventually connects into the landfall site at shore.

Community impact: The offshore export cable is trenched along the ocean floor and has no community impact until it makes landfall.

Landfall Site

The landfall site is the point where the offshore export cable reaches the land. Although this component of the windfarm is described as “landfall,” in actuality, the export cable will travel under the seabed and be burrowed under the shoreline.

Community impacts: Temporary construction activity in the area and right of way as the export cable is being burrowed

Ways to reduce impact: Horizontal directional drilling is used to bury the cable beneath shore at the landfall site. Non-residential or low-density sites are prioritized to reduce impacts.

Onshore Export Cable

Once an onshore cable route is determined, the export cable can run from the onshore landfall site, under the right-of-way, and connect to the onshore substation.

Community impacts: Construction in the public right-of-way as the road is temporarily opened up to lay the cable

Ways to reduce impact: After construction, the road is closed up, paved over, and restored. Construction is prioritized along pathways with limited visibility and former industrial use.

Converter Station

In some cases, an additional piece of infrastructure, called a converter station, is required to step energy down so that it can flow easily into our power grid. If the export cable coming from the water to an onshore station is carrying high voltage direct current (HVDC), it will need to be converted (stepped down) to high voltage alternating current (HVAC) in order for the power grid to absorb it. HVAC cables can be used from wind farm to point of interconnection if the distance between the two is relatively short (60 miles or less), but oftentimes HVDC power is used to carry more power at a longer distance.

Community impacts: Temporary construction activity as station is being built. Station is hosted inland.

Ways to reduce impact: Land with existing industrial use is prioritized in siting. Permanent infrastructure is blended into surroundings with input from community guidelines and asks.

Onshore Substation

The onshore substation is where the wind power connects to the existing power grid. In most cases, these substations already exist, though they may require upgrades or expansion to accommodate the offshore wind power. This station converts electricity received from the export cable to a voltage that can be transmitted into the existing transmission network and eventually to the distribution network that services consumers.

Community impacts: Temporary construction activity as station is being built. Station is hosted inland.

Ways to reduce impact: Existing substations or land with existing industrial use is prioritized in siting. Permanent infrastructure is blended into surroundings with input from community guidelines and asks.

Trying to Get Transmission Done Without Delay

Because transmission projects come ashore in local municipalities and often connect to the grid via cables that run beneath public rights-of-way, offshore wind developers need to acquire lease agreements and easements from the host municipalities as part of the “home rule” authority local governments have around land use decisions. When planned well, developers and municipalities are able to successfully negotiate agreements - around procedures and any benefits - that set the stage for shared success.

However, given the rising opposition to offshore wind projects in some coastal communities, the state of New Jersey has sought to limit municipal authority over project development. In 2021, the state passed and enacted legislation allowing developers who are unable to secure permits for transmission projects to bypass local government departments and apply directly to the NJ BPU, which now has the authority to green-light projects on municipal land. Ørsted, the developer of the proposed Ocean Wind 1 project, sought and received permission from NJ BPU to come ashore in Ocean City, NJ and connect to a shuttered power plant in a neighboring municipality in Ocean City roadways. The city has appealed the ruling to the NJ BPU, is awaiting a decision, and is currently denying any permits for Ørsted to carry out tests and soil borings in Ocean City. Ørsted has sued the city and is seeking the necessary permits in June 2023.

In New York, the permitting process for transmission in state waters (including at the cable landing site) is overseen by the state’s Public Service Commission (PSC). The “Accelerated Renewable Energy and Growth and Community Benefit Act” was passed in 2020 to streamline the approval process. The Act focuses on the state’s Article VII process and requires the PSC to issue a final decision on the needed Certificate of Environmental Compatibility and Public Need (CPCN) within 12 months of the completed application date. The Act also requires an expedited review process (within nine months) for utility transmission that is constructed in existing right-of-way, that would not result in significant adverse environmental impacts, and would expand existing rights-of-way for the purposes of complying with EMF regulations.

While these approaches serve as useful tools for the states to achieve their goals, they are by no means a reason to minimize the necessary and important work of community education, engagement, and collaboration.

4

Creating Beneficial Outcomes for Communities

Implementing offshore wind transmission projects in local communities is an essential link in the offshore wind development chain. Without permission to access and use public rights-of-way under the control of local governments, developers have no place to bring offshore wind cables ashore and no pathway to connect to the grid. Without offshore wind power, it would be practically impossible for states to achieve their climate targets, which would threaten our collective ability to address climate change, nationally and globally, affecting us all. Thus there is every reason for communities, community stakeholders, state and local government, and developers to find common interests and shared approaches to beneficial outcomes with as few delays as possible. And there are many ways that host communities can benefit from these projects: from local and regional job opportunities, to an expansion of the tax base, to direct investments into critical projects and other community needs.

A Note on Communities and Community Stakeholders

In the next few sections, we will be talking a lot about communities and community stakeholders. In general, when we discuss a “community” or “community members,” we’re talking about the people (residents, business owners, workers, and local government actors) who reside or spend time in a community where offshore wind transmission projects are being considered/are being implemented. In addition to the immediate community, “community stakeholders” include those in the community, plus those with an interest in that community, be they interest groups in support of or opposed to offshore wind, the offshore wind developer, state and federal governments, and beyond.

As described above, transmission projects will have largely temporary impacts on communities, but unawareness about the process, and the ability to stall or prevent projects from progressing at the local level, leaves room for opposition.

As offshore wind projects progress and we move closer to installing transmission infrastructure in multiple communities across our region, closing the knowledge gap on what the process entails while working together to reach beneficial outcomes that meet shared needs between developers and communities must be the focus. Achieving desired outcomes will require all those involved to embrace opportunities for engagement and collaboration and maintain equity and best practice top of mind.

Stakeholder roles in offshore wind transmission

When carrying out an offshore wind project from ocean to grid, different actors come into play: from federal, state, and local governments; to developers, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), and contractors; to the various interest groups (each with their own unique agendas); to the residents, business owners, and workers of communities where these projects will have the most impact. It is important to understand the role that each of these stakeholders plays throughout the multiple phases of offshore wind development to ensure the best outcomes. The following illustration summarizes each stakeholder’s role and mission when it comes to offshore wind transmission.

Community Responses to Offshore Wind Transmission

How a given community responds to an offshore wind transmission project is largely a function of how well-engaged they are in the project, how knowledgeable about offshore wind they are, and how clearly direct or indirect benefits of the projects are realized. Communities that have interacted with and will interact with offshore wind vary in nature and form. There are coastal suburban towns like Brookhaven, NY, on Long Island that are along Sunrise Wind’s interconnection pathway, and also more populated and urbanized neighborhoods in New York City, like Sunset Park in Brooklyn, home to the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal, a future offshore wind hub.

Municipalities Interacting with Offshore Wind Infrastructure

Sources: BOEM, various project websites and Construction and Operations Plans, agency and organizational websites.

Project Name	Cable Landing Municipality	Transmission Pathway Municipalities	Interconnection Municipality (Coverter Station or Substation)	Station Name	Anticipated Date of Operation
Ocean Wind 1	Ocean City; Upper Township	Ocean City; Upper Township	Upper Township	BL England	2023
	Ocean Township; Lacey Township; Berkeley Township*	Ocean Township; Lacey Township; Berkeley Township*	Lacey Township	Oyster Creek	2023
South Fork Wind	East Hampton (Wainscott)	East Hampton	East Hampton	SFEC Interconnection Facility (Beach Lane)	2023
Sunrise Wind	Brookhaven (Fire Island)	Brookhaven (Fire Island); Shirley	Brookhaven	Holbrook	2025
Empire Wind	New York City (Brooklyn)	New York City (Brooklyn)	New York City (Brooklyn)	Gowanus (Project 1)	2026
	Long Beach; Hempstead	Long Beach; Island Park; Oceanside	Island Park; Oceanside	Barrett/Oceanside (Project 2)	2027
Atlantic Shores South	Atlantic City	Atlantic City; Egg Harbor Township; Pleasantville	Egg Harbor Township	Cardiff (Project 1)	2027
Beacon Wind	New York City (Queens)	New York City (Queens)	New York City (Astoria, Queens)	Astoria Gateway for Renewable Energy (AGRE)	2028
Ocean Wind 2	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	2029

*Tentatively planned route

Different communities along transmission pathways have different needs, but one that most have in common is a desire for successful project outcomes, which can only be achieved when community outreach and engagement are done right. To include and address concerns for communities who seek to stop transmission development from progressing, deep engagement, outreach, listening, and sharing tools are important if developers seek to move forward.

Tools for beneficial community outcomes

While it is easy to argue that host communities will benefit from transmission development projects - addressing climate change, increased jobs, and more - as with any major infrastructure construction project, thinking through the impacts and the benefits requires working together to assess needs and identify solutions. There is no simple formula to achieving additional beneficial outcomes for communities when implementing offshore wind transmission projects, but one thing is very clear: meaningful community engagement and education are the foundation for success, and as detailed above, each stakeholder–whether government, industry, NGO, or resident/worker– has a unique role to play. Above all, the steps offshore wind and/or transmission developers take to build and sustain relationships within a host community, meet people where they are, and understand their unique needs, will have the most effects on ultimate outcomes. And, of course, active participation and open communication with developers by community members and stakeholders is critical too, including attending information sessions, learning about offshore wind, and sharing knowledge about what the community needs, for example.

Over the course of this report’s development, we conducted a series of interviews with a number of the key stakeholders operating in the offshore wind space, with a specific focus on transmission. Feedback from these stakeholders, taken together with our deep research and personal experience working on these projects, leads us to the following takeaways that will help ensure long term success for transmission projects.

Build coalitions of interest groups and industry to educate and coalesce support for offshore wind

As an emerging technology and climate solution in the US and here in our region, most people know little about offshore wind or its multiple benefits. While the federal government and states manage a regulatory and procurement process, and project developers work hard to meaningfully engage the public (see below) once they have assembled a project vision, there is a lot of work to be done before and during the regulatory process to educate the public and connect networks of stakeholders in support of offshore wind with one another. The places where projects have been most successful to date are those where an organized and united coalition of environmental, labor, and civic interest groups are amplifying both the benefits of offshore wind and raising questions that need answering at the local and regional levels. While the approvals by state government agencies to land offshore wind cables, and of local governments to grant access to land for transmission projects is but one stage in the larger development process, the work of coalitions to educate local governments and the public about offshore wind, while galvanizing a cross-section of support, has proven to be successful leading up to this point and negotiating through it.

Advocacy and education initiatives have included:

Bringing offshore wind experts to speak to local elected officials and community members, public education campaigns about the benefits of offshore wind;
Generating turnout at public engagement events to demonstrate support for offshore wind transmission;
Hiring local liaisons from within particular stakeholder groups to promote open dialogue (e.g. fisheries liaisons)
Developing industry working groups to share best practices and find common ways to work through challenges and realize opportunities; and
Creating a community of practice and education through conferences

Taken together, the coalitions of interest groups working together to build support, the industry commitment to shared learning, and the combined opportunities for education of communities and community stakeholders have all better positioned our region for this moment, where more and more transmission decisions will be deliberated and made. To date, many of these coalitions have helped - and continue to work to - turn opposition to support, thereby ensuring the implementation of projects, including transmission work.

South Fork Wind Transmission:
Getting to Yes on Long Island

In late March 2023, two 28-mile-long, undersea cables from the South Fork wind farm made landfall some 80 feet beneath the beach in the hamlet of Wainscott located in the town of East Hampton. These offshore export cables were connected to a 4-mile stretch of onshore cable that had previously been laid down within the rights-of-way of town roads and state railroads, connecting it to the grid at a Long Island Power Authority substation, which awaits the flow of energy from the offshore wind farm that will be completed by the end of 2023. This momentous occasion marked the first cable landfall in our region as part of the first of many wind farms that will help our states to meet our climate goals and contribute to a more sustainable and livable future.

But the process to complete the onshore transmission work was neither simple nor without opposition. In order to advance any offshore wind farm project, local governments that are being asked to host transmission infrastructure need to approve access to and use of the public-rights-of-way where projects will be implemented. In New York, the state Public Service Commission needs to approve the landfall location.

Long before these decisions were made in East Hampton, a coalition of environmental, labor, clergy, and community groups (now united under the Wind Works Long Island) began to educate Long Island residents, elected officials, and other stakeholders about the environmental, economic, and community benefits of offshore wind. Their work galvanized support and laid the groundwork for informed stakeholder engagement.

As it became clear that the Town of East Hampton would play a critical role in approving South Fork Wind’s transmission project, the coalition supported the Town’s desire for greater education about offshore wind, bringing in international experts to provide insights and arranged public forums for discussion of the issues. They also worked closely with the developers, Ørsted and Eversource, in their efforts to deeply engage the community and stakeholders, resulting in beneficial outcomes, including the $29 million Host Community Agreement. Through the successful collaboration of the coalition, the Town, and the developers, the project was able to overcome opposition from a small number of community members who didn’t want the cable to make landfall near their homes. Today, South Fork Wind is on track to become the first offshore wind project in our region to deliver clean power into our grid — via the Town of East Hampton — by the end of 2023.

Engage early, often, and meaningfully

Conversations with offshore wind developers and community organizations revealed that it is never too early for offshore wind or transmission companies to engage with communities, and engagement should continue throughout a project’s lifecycle. Planning for and developing an operational offshore wind project takes about a decade, with multiple phases and opportunities to connect with communities that will be affected in some way. NYSERDA and NJBPU lay the groundwork for thoughtful outreach and engagement through their state procurement requirements, including detailed stakeholder engagement plans from developers and supply chain engagement plans from manufacturers. As soon as companies have a sense of which communities might be in the transmission pathway (often as early as in the research phase of developing a bid for an offshore wind solicitation), engagement with stakeholders should begin, from local governments to labor unions, to residents, and interest groups.

Engagement is most meaningful when it is viewed as an opportunity to listen and build trust.

Because each community has different needs - from environmental concerns about the projects to worries about disruptions to business or traffic - it’s essential these needs are understood and integrated into project plans from start to finish and through the operation and maintenance phases that follow. Importantly, plans for implementation and community needs frequently shift over time, so what may have been agreed upon in the early stages could change.

For example, a supply chain disruption could delay transmission installation planned for the fall season until the following summer, impacting local residents’ tourism economy. Developers would need to work collaboratively with community members to redesign a schedule that meets both parties’ needs and ensures a fair compromise. Developers and OEMs have a responsibility to uphold the outreach and engagement commitments made in their bids to state agencies. For their plans to be effective, community groups need to embrace opportunities to learn more about offshore wind, engage and participate by asking questions, and share their feedback about the projects and about engagement itself. The only way to navigate these complex projects together is through continued, collaborative, and transparent engagement, taking care to avoid “planning fatigue.”

Examples of successful engagement approaches include partnerships with community organizations to collaboratively build long-term opportunities for engagement, open houses where stakeholders can engage with material at their own pace, “What’s Brewin Offshore?” events where OSW, union, and other representatives can discuss topics with invited guests, educational events with parents and students at local schools, meeting people where they are by sponsoring and tabling local community events.

See the project as the center of a mutualistic relationship

For local residents, community groups and developers, a transmission project could seem simply like work that needs to be done in a given place before moving on to the next project. However, evidence shows that when stakeholders see the project as the center of an ongoing relationship in which all parties have an important stake, which comes about from the meaningful engagements described above, successful outcomes follow. In particular, a company that builds transmission infrastructure in a host community cannot simply engage, construct, and walk away. Offshore wind farms, once constructed, have lifespans of 30 years or more. Through the process of implementing projects, the transmission infrastructure, and thus the company that owns it, become part of that community for the full lifespan and care should be taken to determine how the companies involved and current existing residents can be good neighbors with a common interest in seeing the project succeed.

Center equity and justice

The impacts of climate change will continue to disproportionately affect the lives of frontline communities, including communities of color and of limited wealth, who have already borne too much of the burden of environmental injustice for too long. The emergence of new industries like offshore wind around our waterfronts is promising, but care needs to be taken to ensure community priorities and their critical needs are taken into account. The community-based organizations UPROSE, Rogue Climate, Taproot Earth, and Climate Justice Alliance collaborated to develop a set of Principles for a Just Transition in Offshore Wind Energy, which “serves as a foundation of how to support, partner, and work with climate justice organizations to be essential partners and decision makers for achieving a Just Transition via Offshore Wind Energy…”, Government has emerged as a leader toward supporting a Just Transition as well, with both NYSERDA and NJ BPU proactively setting requirements in their project solicitations that prioritize benefits for “disadvantaged communities” in New York and “overburdened communities” in New Jersey. Finally, the Biden Administration’s Justice 40 initiative sets a goal that “40 percent of the overall benefits of certain Federal investments flow to disadvantaged communities that are marginalized, underserved, and overburdened by pollution.” This initiative was modeled on a similar requirement established in New York’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act.

All of these considerations need to be taken into account when implementing offshore wind transmission projects in frontline communities. Whether it’s determining who is hired to do the work or who benefits and in what ways from Host Community Agreements, centering equity and justice must be a focus of developers, local governments, and stakeholders when making these decisions.

Examples of successful centering of equity and justice:

Youth STEM education initiatives in underserved communities;
Offering training for local community members at multiple times and locations–including remote options;
Working with stakeholders to identify barriers to entry into union jobs and collectively develop strategies to overcome those barriers;
Providing wraparound services for current workers including childcare and pre-apprenticeship training;
Prioritizing outreach and economic development investments to support local SMWVBE businesses in OSW Supply chains; replacing polluting energy infrastructure with offshore wind transmission infrastructure.

Neighborliness goes a long way

There’s no getting around the fact that transmission projects can be disruptive. Miles of roadway passing through communities will need to be temporarily closed and opened up to lay down cable, for example. At the same time, infrastructure projects like these happen periodically, including sewer line repairs, community paving/re-paving projects, and broadband internet installation, among others. The best possible path through temporary disruptions is for the companies and contractors carrying them out to exhibit the quality of “neighborliness.”

Neighborliness could be defined as understanding the ways a project will affect different community members and then using that knowledge to collectively address the issue and minimize the impact. In other words, it’s being the best neighbor possible in a sometimes undesirable situation. And neighborliness, of course, is a two-way street. Communities hosting transmission infrastructure are also hosting the companies implementing and maintaining those projects. With the effective engagement processes described above– designed to foster productive long-term relationships – an ideal scenario is one in which developers plan for minimal temporary disruption and host communities understand the need to accept undesirable short-term impacts in order to enjoy the long-term benefits these projects bring to them.

Consider broader and deeper investment, such as a community benefits package

For some transmission development projects, stakeholders within host communities may seek greater, long-term community benefits beyond the short-term boost of local and regional construction jobs. In such a case, a community benefits package can be developed.

A community benefits package includes an agreement between developers and host communities (either municipalities and/or community-based organizations) that determine a series of benefits (monetary or otherwise) that will be granted to host communities or identified stakeholders in exchange for them hosting infrastructure or otherwise supporting an offshore wind development project. They are becoming more prevalent with offshore wind projects overall and, in many cases, specifically with transmission development and implementation.

As part of their submissions to state procurements, developers and manufacturers are required to pledge a number of monetary and non-monetary commitments to be invested in host communities. These commitments are then negotiated with impacted communities upon proposal award and may result in different implementation approaches. Such community benefit approaches could include Host Community Agreements, Payments-in-lieu-of-Taxes (PILOT payments), or Community Benefit Agreements (CBAs). Negotiating community benefit packages allows communities and developers to find mutual areas of agreement where they might not otherwise and allow a project to proceed. Community benefits are developed and refined in the interest of advancing agreed-upon goals of state procurement contracts, shared visions for local jobs and supporting the Just Transition, and in the interest of developers becoming good neighbors. They can address multiple issues including investments in infrastructure, development of parks and public space, and even local workforce agreements.

A number of developers we interviewed said: “A community benefits package is just one, but a very important, tool in the toolbox.” We must acknowledge how the takeaways described above serve as the foundation upon which beneficial outcomes are achieved. Successful community benefits packages, where sought, come about because of efforts around outreach and engagement, centering equity, and being a good neighbor, not instead of them.

Deep Dive: Community Benefit Approaches

What Are the Different Types of Community Benefit Approaches?

As described earlier in this report, asking a community to host transmission infrastructure as part of an offshore wind project is both a regulatory and relational process. On the regulatory side, a developer must seek access to land in a local municipality, such as roadways and other public rights-of-way, to lay down cables, and also to construct any additional transmission infrastructure like converter stations or expanded substations. From a relational perspective, a developer will be best positioned to understand and meet the needs of the host community through the kind of engagement and relationship-building efforts described above, with municipal leaders, residents, and organizations that represent the interests of communities.

As these needs are understood, developers are able to consider how resources they have might be leveraged into different kinds of community benefits approaches, including, and described below, a “Host Community Agreement,” “Payments-in-lieu-of-Taxes,” “Community Benefit Agreements,” or a “Community Benefits Fund,” among others.

Host Community Agreement

A Host Community Agreement (HCA) is a legal agreement between a developer and a local governing body or bodies of the host community, setting forth agreed upon community benefits in exchange for its support for the transmission project. Support from a host community often includes easements and lease agreements to construct, operate, maintain, repair, and remove portions of transmission infrastructure, such as cables.

Benefits negotiated in the agreement include monetary payments (amount and schedule), commitments to construct public amenities, such as parks, as well as planned investments in community projects and partnerships. HCAs can also include agreed-upon assurances around such issues as local economic development opportunities (constructing maintenance and operations facilities, training centers) and plans to decommission and remove the project at the end of its useful life, while restoring the property. HCAs are among the most common community benefits packages negotiated as part of transmission projects and are typically celebrated as win-wins for local governments and offshore wind developers.

Recent example(s) of offshore wind transmission-related HCA(s) in our region:

An HCA between the Town of East Hampton and South Fork Wind includes an initial payment of $1 million and 25 additional annual payments by the developer to the town for a total of $27.9 million, as well as assurances of providing a fisheries liaison and “good faith efforts” to make Town residents aware of job openings. In exchange, South Fork Wind received lease agreements and easements on Town property to connect the wind farm to the grid via transmission cables.
For the Sunrise Wind project, the developer, the Town of Brookhaven, and Suffolk County agreed to an HCA worth $169.9 million over 25 years. The package includes $5 million towards the construction of a regional park, $10 million for a National Offshore Wind Training Center; $5 million for a research and development partnership with Stony Brook University; and other projects in the community, including support for expanding sewers to areas currently without them. In exchange, Sunrise Wind received lease agreements and easements for an 18-mile underground cable through the town (as well as a PILOT agreement, described below).

Payments-in-lieu-of-Taxes

Payments-in-lieu-of taxes (PILOTs) are payments and other investments made by an entity to a government/into a community in exchange for tax breaks associated with those investments. PILOTs are commonly used as an incentive to draw private investment into a particular place, with the goal of local and regional economic development, through job creation and contracts for local businesses, for example. In offshore wind development, PILOTs can be used to both attract investments from developers into sites for use by the developer (e.g. operations and maintenance facilities, permanent project office space, etc.), as well as through property and other tax breaks on the land where projects are implemented and for equipment and materials purchased for transmission and other projects.

Recent example(s) of offshore wind transmission-related PILOT(s) in our region:

$87.4 million in tax breaks from the Town of Brookhaven over 25 years for the construction of an electrical converter station and an 18-mile underground cable-transmission line connecting the Sunrise Wind project to a substation in Holbrook, NY. Those tax breaks include $24 million in sales tax breaks on the purchase of related construction equipment and materials, and $63 million in property tax savings on the land used by the project;
$2.6 million in tax breaks over ten years to support the renovation of a 59,500-square-foot building to become an operations center providing up to 100 new jobs for Sunrise Wind and other company-led offshore wind projects in the Town of Brookhaven.
In return, Sunrise Wind committed to pay $1.1 million in payments each year for 25 years that go to five school districts, the Town of Brookhaven, Suffolk County, and other taxing jurisdictions.

Community Benefits Agreement

A Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) is defined by the US Department of Energy as “an agreement signed by community benefit groups and a developer, identifying a range of community benefits the developer agrees to provide as part of the development, in return for the community’s support of the project.” In most places, a signed CBA is assumed to be binding on all parties to the agreement in the same way that an agreement between a municipality and a developer is binding on both sides. Because these agreements are between developers and community groups, they differ from HCAs in that they typically address more specific and targeted community needs, such as minimums for local hiring, wage requirements for workers, or investments in specific projects important to the community group in the negotiations and the residents’ interest they represent. There are no restrictions on what can be included in CBAs, but reaching an agreement requires strong partnership and collaboration between developers and community groups.

The first offshore wind CBA in the US was signed between Vineyard Power (an offshore wind project) and Vineyard Power Coop (VPC), a 501c12 non-profit cooperative with a membership of over 1,400 local households and businesses on Martha’s Vineyard, MA. The CBA is focused on local job creation and the construction of a local operations and maintenance facility. Additionally, the developer and the cooperative are investigating opportunities for VPC to own, finance, or take equity in 100 MW of capacity from the project. Other CBAs focus on specific issues such as wetlands protection/restoration, investments in improved internet access, and donations to specific organizations.

Recent example(s) of offshore wind transmission-related CBA(s) in our region:

While there are no current examples of transmission-related CBAs in our region, there are ongoing conversations between developers and the Sunset Park Brooklyn community about developing a CBA related to the port and transmission infrastructure being implemented there.

Implications & Desired Outcomes

At this moment in time, New York and New Jersey are on the verge of constructing a string of offshore wind projects off of our coastline, and the transmission cables that connect them to the grid are beginning to come ashore and cross our communities. In the interest of advancing offshore wind today and for years to come, it is important to consider the implications and desired outcomes that we seek for our region.

With only one example of a completed offshore wind transmission project in our region (South Fork Wind), the report above looked not only at that project but gathered and analyzed information and lessons learned from other similar projects and experiences both domestic and abroad. We learned that the construction of offshore wind transmission projects - along with the required grid updates - will have temporary impacts on communities, and that meaningful community engagement and coalition building are both hard and necessary to offset negative project externalities, foster trust, and meet community needs to bring about beneficial project outcomes for all stakeholders.

The first wave of offshore wind projects has been characterized by a transmission approach that has put the developer in a position to determine transmission pathways, selecting from a fixed and limited number of places on the grid in which to plug in. This approach was necessary to get the process started, but the next wave of projects will be implemented under different conditions - from coordinated transmission on shore to ocean-based grids, to floating offshore wind farms in the future.

If we’re going to succeed in developing as much or more offshore wind than we currently have targets for, with strong community support, we will need to take the following steps:

Short-term

Modernize the Grid and Expand Transmission Capacity, Quickly

Both the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, and the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act allocated tens of billions of dollars to assist in grid modernization efforts, including expanding transmission lines and making it more flexible for renewable energy inputs. These dollars will be needed in our region to ensure that offshore wind can connect to the grid. But even if the dollars are available, the process to permit grid expansion is slow and needs to be sped up, or the window of opportunity for transformational change will close. In order to address this, the states and regional grid operators need to focus squarely on securing federal dollars, investing their own, and finding ways to streamline the process.

Short- to Mid-term

Get Coordinated Around Transmission, On Land and At Sea

As the last remaining grid locations with the ability to receive offshore wind interconnections along the coast are claimed by future projects, a more coordinated approach to transmission will need to take place. Already in New Jersey, NJ BPU and the regional grid operator, PJM, used a first-in-the-nation State Agreement Approach (SAA) to solicit competitive bids for creative transmission solutions in 2021. A year later, NJ BPU chose the Larrabee Tri-Collector Solution as the winning project, which –along with other projected grid upgrades – will be part of a one billion dollar investment in creating a single location for three (and possibly four) offshore wind projects to plug into, following a single corridor for transmission cables. Focusing on a single hub for multiple projects, with one corridor, will reduce environmental impacts, limit community disruption, and avoid risks of delays for permitting. New York is currently pursuing a similar approach, including Con Edison’s proposed Brooklyn Clean Energy Hub.

But even with a joint interconnection point solution on land, we will eventually exhaust available locations. There is an imminent need for an ocean-based grid, where interconnections between wind farms are made in a coordinated way in the ocean - often called a meshed network — eventually limiting the number of cables making landfall from each project. Such an approach — while incredibly complex — is considered inevitable. New York’s third solicitation required applicants to demonstrate projects are “meshed ready” and New Jersey recently released a solicitation geared towards coordinated approaches to transmission, including considering a meshed network.

States will need to coordinate so that sequencing for bids and project execution is timed just right if they are to continue releasing offshore wind solicitations and keeping projects in the pipeline, in a way that accommodates the most up to date transmission approach. States should agree on their desired approach before releasing new solicitations and asking companies to submit their bids.

Pair Offshore Wind and Energy Storage

Energy storage (large scale batteries) is becoming a more useful technology, providing a unique opportunity to pair storage with offshore wind development. Storage containing power generated by offshore wind at off peak times, could serve as the much needed solution to shut down the polluting peaker plants in our cities. Such a pairing is already starting to become a requirement in the solicitation bid process in New York, and should become standard practice where feasible, and as investments in this technology makes it even more practical.

Overall and always

Find Champions for Offshore Wind

In the face of growing opposition and the need for coordinated support, offshore wind needs champions at all levels and across sectors. Interest groups have already played a pivotal role in galvanizing support and educating the public. Offshore wind development companies are largely succeeding in carrying out robust engagement processes, striving to meet community needs, and delivering on promises, to promote beneficial outcomes. Some elected officials have also taken up offshore wind as an issue worth leveraging their voice for. But if offshore wind is to succeed in achieving its promise, more and more vocal champions will be needed.

Making Offshore Wind Transmission Work for Communities

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