U.S. Northeast - Offshore Wind to employ more than 43,000 by 2030.

COMPANY AND LABOR DETAIL PLANS FOR LAUNCHING A LONG ISLAND OFFSHORE WIND INDUSTRY, BEGINNING WITH HIRING LOCAL LABORERS TO SUPPORT DEEPWATER ONE PROJECT  

Deepwater Wind today announced its commitment to partnering with the Nassau-Suffolk Building and Construction Trades Council and the Long Island Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, to develop a local offshore wind industry, including the creation of jobs on Long Island to support development and construction of its Deepwater ONE offshore wind farm.

If approved by local regulators later this year, Deepwater ONE would result in approximately 300 direct jobs each year on Long Island throughout the project’s construction, as well as a significant number of jobs during the project’s pre-construction phase. Local hiring could start as early as 2015 and accelerate over the development of the project.

Deepwater Wind CEO Jeffrey Grybowski detailed the jobs plan at a press event at the Long Island Federation of Labor, where he was joined by Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone, Long Island Federation President John Durso, and Richard O’Kane, President of the Nassau-Suffolk Building and Construction Trades Council.

“We’re delighted to be partnering with the Building Trades and Long Island Federation of Labor to develop the skilled trades, supply chain and facilities here on Long Island to serve the growing offshore wind industry,” Grybowski said. “From engineers to construction workers, our first project would mean a wide range of new jobs for several hundred Long Islanders. We’re anxious to move forward on this path-breaking project.”

Deepwater Wind has pledged to build the Long Island portions of Deepwater ONE under agreements with the Long Island Federation of Labor and the Building and Construction Trades Council of Nassau & Suffolk Counties. In addition, Deepwater Wind is committed to working with Long Island-based contractors to develop a local supply chain and position Long Island as an offshore wind industry hub.

“Hiring locally and creating good paying jobs in Suffolk County is at the core of the economic future of our region,” said County Executive Steve Bellone. “The creation of jobs in the field of renewable energy and making renewable energy sources available to Long Island is a win for Suffolk County and the Long Island region.”

“There is an opportunity associated with offshore wind energy to safeguard our environment and, at the same time, bring hundreds of jobs to our region,” said John R. Durso, President of the Long Island Federation of Labor. “Long Island has a skilled workforce in place to jumpstart a new American industry.”‎

“The Nassau-Suffolk Building and Construction Trades is delighted to have the opportunity to put hundreds of highly trained and skilled men and women to work on this project, which will also help keep our air clean and provide good paying jobs for them and their families,” said Richard O’Kane, President of the Nassau-Suffolk Building and Construction Trades Council.

Long Island is well positioned to serve as a hub for the growing U.S. offshore wind industry, and Deepwater ONE could jumpstart that effort. NYSERDA estimates that 2,500 megawatts or more of offshore wind energy could be developed off Long Island’s shores by 2025. By 2030, more than 43,000 people in the Northeast are expected to be working in the offshore wind industry.

As part of a proposal currently under review by the Long Island Power Authority, Deepwater Wind is proposing supplying Long Island with more than 200 megawatts of renewable energy from Deepwater ONE. Construction could begin as early as 2017, with commercial operations by 2018.

Deepwater ONE would provide a much-needed source of new, renewable energy to the East End of Long Island – producing enough energy to power approximately 120,000 homes and generating most of its energy during peak usage periods and on cold, winter days when demands on Long Island’s gas supplies is heaviest. The project would reduce fossil-fuel emissions, stabilize energy costs, and generate new jobs and investment on Long Island.

Deepwater ONE is the best site for offshore wind in the United States, located in deeper ocean waters – taking advantage of the strong and steady winds of the Atlantic Ocean – and farther from shore than any other proposed project.

At approximately 30 miles east of Montauk, N.Y., the wind farm will be “over the horizon,” and not visible from any point on Long Island. All transmission cables will be buried deep below existing roads and under shoreline features, with no overhead cables or poles.

Deepwater ONE is an important step in moving the United States to a clean-energy future. Because of the economies of scale and the continuing maturity of the American offshore wind industry, the project’s power price will be competitive with both traditional fossil fuel power and other clean sources of energy. Moreover, the wind farm will deliver power at a price significantly lower than the first generation of offshore wind farms proposed in the U.S.

Deepwater Wind in July 2013 won the 30-year lease to develop the Deepwater ONE project in federal waters on the Outer Continental Shelf. The U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM)’s first-ever competitive lease auction for offshore wind covered two parcels, totaling approximately 256 square miles in the Atlantic Ocean 30 miles east of Montauk.