New York cancels three offshore wind farms after developer scales down size of turbines

A turbine manufacturer’s reconsideration of enormous offshore wind turbines has caused the whole farm to get scrapped.

New York state on Friday said it wasn’t moving forward on three offshore wind farm projects after General Electric Vernova changed the turbine design to incorporate much smaller machines than the 18-megawatt turbines the original plans used, Reuters reports.

The state had provisionally approved the projects in October 2023, but officials said the reduced turbine size “materially altered” the original designs.

The three projects would have delivered 4 gigawatts of offshore wind to help President Joe Biden meet his goal of 30 gigawatts of offshore wind capacity by 2030.

According to E&E News, the push for larger turbines posed technological risks, which add to the industry’s financial struggles as a result of inflation and rising interest rates.