FILE - The first operating South Fork Wind farm turbine, Thursday, Dec. 7, 2023, stands east of Montauk Point, N.Y. South Fork Wind, America’s first commercial-scale offshore wind farm, is officially open. FILE - The first operating South Fork Wind farm turbine, Dec. 7, 2023, stands east of Montauk Point, N.Y. South Fork Wind, America’s first commercial-scale offshore wind farm, is officially open. FILE - The first operating South Fork Wind farm turbine, Thursday, Dec.
“It’s great to be first, we want to make sure we’re not the last. That’s why we’re showing other states how it can be done, why we’re moving forward, on to other projects,” Hochul told The Associated Press in an exclusive interview before the announcement. With South Fork finished, Ørsted and Eversource are turning their attention to the work they will do offshore beginning this spring for a wind farm more than five times its size. Revolution Wind will be Rhode Island and Connecticut’s first commercial-scale offshore wind farm, capable of powering more than 350,000 homes next year. The site where the cable will connect in Rhode Island is already under construction.
The first U.S. offshore wind farm was supposed to be a project off the coast of Massachusetts known as Cape Wind. A Massachusetts developer proposed the project in 2001. It failed after years of local opposition and litigation.