Sunrise Wind Platforms Commence Work Off Smith Point
A pair of massive black, yellow and white liftboat platforms have returned to work in the waters some 400-1,000 meters off Smith Point Beach in Shirley this month for the Sunrise Wind turbine project currently being built 30 miles off Montauk by Danish company Ørsted. The project, which will bring wind powered green energy to Long Island, follows Ørsted’s recently completed South Fork wind project, also 30 miles off Montauk, which had lines come ashore in Wainscott.
The pair of liftboats are specialized offshore vessels that can be raised above the water on three long legs to creating a stable, adjustable platform for the precision work required to build offshore wind turbines and their infrastructure. A Sunrise Wind weekly status report detailing the project notes that the platforms have been on standby, but will begin this week to pull and splice offshore cable connecting Sunrise Wind with onshore control systems. The pulling and splicing will continue at least until the end of the month.
“Sunrise Wind remains on track for completion in the second half of 2027, when it will power nearly 600,000 homes on Long Island,” a rep from Ørsted said of the 84-turbine wind farm project on Tuesday. The work commenced after Trump administration efforts to halt Sunrise Wind’s progress with stop-work orders were defeated in the courts in early December. The company explained that several vessels are stationed off Long Island to support work over the next few weeks.
The cable coming ashore at Smith Point will extend north and west underground to an onshore converter station facility on Union Avenue in Holbrook, where the power will be converted and fed into the grid.
Vetted Hamptons Resources
