June 3, 2021 — The developers of the South Fork Wind Farm said they have reduced the number of turbines they plan to connect to the South Fork from 15 to 12 — though the amount of power sent ashore in East Hampton will remain the same.
The shift is a product of the availability of much larger turbines than when the project was originally proposed. An Ørsted spokesperson said that the company has settled on using 11 megawatt turbines for the project, which allows the total number of turbines to be reduced from 15 to 12 while still meeting the 132-megawatt planned power supply that the company has agreed to with the Long Island Power Authority.
The turbines used in the Block Island Wind Farm, and visible from the shores of Montauk on clear days, are rated at 6 megawatts. They tower to about 590 feet above the surface of the sea, while the current 11-megawatt Siemens turbines reach nearly 800 feet and a turbine being produced by GE that will also top the 11 megawatt nameplate tower soars to more than 850 feet.
But it also comes amid the public review process of the project by the Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council. Analysts and fishing groups from around New England and New York have objected to the company placing the turbines in ecologically sensitive areas close to Cox Ledge — an undersea ridge of rocky bottom that is an important fishing area for Montauk and Rhode Island fishermen and a critical nursery for bottom dwelling fish species like the beleaguered Atlantic cod.