GE to play role in New York’s offshore wind farms – Times Union

SCHENECTADY - General Electric Co. is going to play a role in the construction of electric grid infrastructure for New York's offshore wind farm projects.

Empire Offshore Wind, a joint venture between Norway's Equinor and London-based BP, is building three wind farms off the shores of Long Island under contracts with New York.

GE Renewable Energy announced Tuesday that it had been selected by Empire Offshore Wind to build the required high-voltage electrical equipment, including an onshore substation, to bring electricity from the first wind farm, known as Empire Wind 1, to New York. Bond Civil & Utility Construction of Medford, Mass., is partnering with GE on the project.

Terms of the contract were not revealed, but most of the work will take place downstate. GE and Bond intend to open a Brooklyn office to manage the project.

Empire Wind 1 will be built on 80,000 acres of ocean about 20 miles south of Long Island. It will generate enough electricity to power 500,000 homes.

Although GE Renewable Energy is headquartered in Paris, GE is merging it eventually into GE Power, which is headquartered in Schenectady, as part of a new public company that will be spun off in 2024. GE employs several thousand people in Schenectady, including a large group of engineers and scientists in Niskayuna at GE Research.

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has been urging GE to become part of the supply chain of Empire Wind 1, hoping it will create jobs in New York state.

The economic development impact from the three Empire Offshore wind farms is expected to exceed $1 billion and provide enough electricity to power 2 million homes.

Equinor, which is majority-owned by the Norwegian government, is managing the project and will be building major equipment staging and assembly port facilities in Brooklyn and just south of the city of Albany in the towns of Bethlehem and Coeymans.

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GE to play role in New York's offshore wind farms - Times Union