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  1. We are WSP
  2. What we do
  3. Projects
  4. New York State Offshore Wind Master Plan

New York State Offshore Wind Master Plan

WSP USA provided environmental, renewable energy and strategic outreach expertise to support this visionary effort — the first offshore wind energy master plan in the U.S.

Location

  • New York, USA

Client

  • New York State Energy and Research Development Authority

Project Status

  • Complete

Commitment

New York State’s commitment under the Clean Energy Standard requires that 50 percent of the State’s electricity come from renewable energy sources. To support that goal, WSP worked closely with the New York State Energy and Research Development Authority (NYSERDA) to contribute to the first-of-its-kind New York State Offshore Wind Master Plan. The plan lays out a path for responsible and cost-effective development of 2.4 gigawatts (GWs) of offshore wind — enough to power 1.2 million homes.

This high-profile, two-year effort attracted significant interest and involvement from a wide variety of stakeholders, from government and developers to commercial fishing interests and coastal landowners. WSP’s resource area experts developed 11 of 20 studies on environmental, social, economic, regulatory and infrastructure considerations to help the State identify—and justify—the most favorable areas for offshore wind energy development.

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Planning for the Future

Our work supported the State’s decision-making process for selecting potential future offshore wind energy development sites. To set a precedent for collaborative engagement and interagency coordination, the team developed a strategic outreach and engagement plan to guide stakeholder involvement during the master plan process. Through public meeting coordination and outreach, we captured and included feedback from indigenous nations, agencies and community groups to serve as an appendix to the Master Plan, making input consistently available for all future planning efforts.

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Opportunity

The New York offshore environment presents significant opportunity for wind energy development, given the strong market for electricity demand and the lower East Coast water depths. With a plan in place that identifies potential areas for facility development, considers benefits and cost-reduction pathways, and promotes stakeholder engagement, New York has called for the procurement of at least 800 megawatts of offshore wind over a two-year period.

Other challenges that we have overcome