Beacon Wind developer withdraws application for 200-mile cable/transmission plan
The Beacon Wind project cable route. Its developer has withdrwan the project’s 200-mile cable and interconnection plan from New York’s regulatory review. Credit: Equinor Wind US
A week after the state Public Service Commission approved a 17.5-mile cable construction plan for the Empire Wind array 15 miles off the coast of Long Beach, the overseas developer of another offshore array known as Beacon Wind formally withdrew that project’s 200-mile cable and interconnection plan from New York’s regulatory review.
The move follows Beacon Wind’s decision in January 2024 to terminate a previously awarded state contract for energy from the array, planned for a lease area off the coast of Massachusetts/Rhode Island more than 200 miles from its planned Astoria landfall site. Cancellation of that contract came as former partners Equinor and BP, both with vast fossil-fuel holdings, split up and divided their offshore assets. BP retains control of Beacon 1 and Beacon 2 lease areas of nearly 129,000 acres.
Equinor is moving forward with its Empire 1 project off the coast of Long Beach, and the PSC's approval was a final green light for its cable and infrastructure connection plan. It came just as former partner BP also announced that it would halt investments in the renewable energy sector, following its 2024 decision to sell off its onshore wind-energy portfolio.
BP, in an emailed response to Newsday Thursday, said it withdrew its state transmission interconnection application and its position for review with the New York Independent System Operator "to allow more time in the evaluation of the project’s design and configuration." The NYISO operates New York power markets, and reviews the addition of new sources.
BP spokesman Cesar Rodriguez wrote that the state’s approach to offshore wind interconnection has "evolved" since BP and Equinor first submitted applications for the project. BP, he said, supports an approach that could reduce the cost of power from the project through a more "coordinated offshore transmission," wherein multiple offshore cables come ashore at fewer points of interconnection.
Beacon was first selected by the state in 2020 to deliver its 1,230 megawatts of power to the New York City grid at a newly planned energy center in Astoria. BP and Equinor later terminated the contract and another for a project known as Empire Wind 2 in January 2024 amid rising material costs and interest rates. Beacon’s underwater 200-mile transmission cable would have run the full-length of Long Island Sound, and even required demolition blasting in the East River to clear rocky seabed.
Equinor last month said it secured $3 billion in financing to move forward with the $7 billion-plus Empire Wind 1, which will sell its energy to the New York City grid via a cable at the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal by 2027.
In announcing the state approval, PSC chairman Rory Christian in a statement called offshore wind "an important part of the development of a clean energy economy for New York State."
But the state’s plans for up to 9,000 megawatts of offshore wind by 2035 have been thrown into uncertainty by the Trump administration’s January executive order that halted new leases and permits for the arrays. The order, citing the potential "grave harm" to shipping and fishing interests, prevents any federal agency from issuing "new or renewed approvals, rights of way, permits, leases or loans" for offshore wind and other green projects, pending a "comprehensive assessment."
U.S. Rep. Nick LaLota (R-Amityville) on Tuesday said he supported Trump’s call for a review of offshore wind projects.
"I think that a pause should allow for a deliberate, non-biased survey of what the actual environmental impact is — a lot of folks are claiming different things," LaLota said.
Asked if he thought the pause should include the Empire project off Long Beach, which he noted was "not in my district," LaLota said, "I want to understand the environmental impacts. We’re here to support the fishermen community ... and we ought to understand and assess the proper impact on the fishing community and the environment as well."
A week after the state Public Service Commission approved a 17.5-mile cable construction plan for the Empire Wind array 15 miles off the coast of Long Beach, the overseas developer of another offshore array known as Beacon Wind formally withdrew that project’s 200-mile cable and interconnection plan from New York’s regulatory review.
The move follows Beacon Wind’s decision in January 2024 to terminate a previously awarded state contract for energy from the array, planned for a lease area off the coast of Massachusetts/Rhode Island more than 200 miles from its planned Astoria landfall site. Cancellation of that contract came as former partners Equinor and BP, both with vast fossil-fuel holdings, split up and divided their offshore assets. BP retains control of Beacon 1 and Beacon 2 lease areas of nearly 129,000 acres.
Equinor is moving forward with its Empire 1 project off the coast of Long Beach, and the PSC's approval was a final green light for its cable and infrastructure connection plan. It came just as former partner BP also announced that it would halt investments in the renewable energy sector, following its 2024 decision to sell off its onshore wind-energy portfolio.
BP, in an emailed response to Newsday Thursday, said it withdrew its state transmission interconnection application and its position for review with the New York Independent System Operator "to allow more time in the evaluation of the project’s design and configuration." The NYISO operates New York power markets, and reviews the addition of new sources.
BP spokesman Cesar Rodriguez wrote that the state’s approach to offshore wind interconnection has "evolved" since BP and Equinor first submitted applications for the project. BP, he said, supports an approach that could reduce the cost of power from the project through a more "coordinated offshore transmission," wherein multiple offshore cables come ashore at fewer points of interconnection.
Beacon was first selected by the state in 2020 to deliver its 1,230 megawatts of power to the New York City grid at a newly planned energy center in Astoria. BP and Equinor later terminated the contract and another for a project known as Empire Wind 2 in January 2024 amid rising material costs and interest rates. Beacon’s underwater 200-mile transmission cable would have run the full-length of Long Island Sound, and even required demolition blasting in the East River to clear rocky seabed.
Equinor last month said it secured $3 billion in financing to move forward with the $7 billion-plus Empire Wind 1, which will sell its energy to the New York City grid via a cable at the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal by 2027.
In announcing the state approval, PSC chairman Rory Christian in a statement called offshore wind "an important part of the development of a clean energy economy for New York State."
But the state’s plans for up to 9,000 megawatts of offshore wind by 2035 have been thrown into uncertainty by the Trump administration’s January executive order that halted new leases and permits for the arrays. The order, citing the potential "grave harm" to shipping and fishing interests, prevents any federal agency from issuing "new or renewed approvals, rights of way, permits, leases or loans" for offshore wind and other green projects, pending a "comprehensive assessment."
U.S. Rep. Nick LaLota (R-Amityville) on Tuesday said he supported Trump’s call for a review of offshore wind projects.
"I think that a pause should allow for a deliberate, non-biased survey of what the actual environmental impact is — a lot of folks are claiming different things," LaLota said.
Asked if he thought the pause should include the Empire project off Long Beach, which he noted was "not in my district," LaLota said, "I want to understand the environmental impacts. We’re here to support the fishermen community ... and we ought to understand and assess the proper impact on the fishing community and the environment as well."
Mark Harrington, a Newsday reporter since 1999, covers energy, wineries, Indian affairs and fisheries.
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