SOURCE:
https://www.liherald.com/merrick/stories/offshore-wind-is-already-working-for-long-island,221127
By Tara Jones - March 19, 2026
Off the coast of Long Island, a new chapter in the region’s energy future is already spinning.
The South Fork Wind project — the first utility-scale offshore wind farm serving New York — is now delivering electricity to the East End, demonstrating that offshore wind is no longer theoretical. It’s operating infrastructure.
The project represents more than a milestone. For energy planners and policymakers, it is proof that offshore wind can play a critical role in solving one of the biggest challenges facing downstate New York: how to replace aging power plants while meeting growing electricity demand and keeping costs low for customers.
Supporters argue that offshore wind makes particular sense here. Facts show that Long Island needs more electricity, has limited room for new large-scale generation on land, sits beside a strong offshore wind resource, and it creates affordable, stable energy rates.
Offshore Wind Meets Demand When It’s At Its Highest
According to an Aurora Energy Research study, offshore wind generation could have saved New York ratepayers about $77 million during a single winter month. Because the price of the energy that the wind farms produce are set at a single, stable rate for 25 to 30 years, there is no cost for the “fuel”. This is unlike fossil fuel energy generators, where not only is there construction and maintenance to pay for, there is a volatile price connected to the fuel.
Projects like South Fork Wind are already showing how that works in practice. During the winter storm of 2026, prices across the state were surging because of the demand being placed on natural gas. Meanwhile, South Fork Wind has produced consistent, reliable power at one flat rate that was far below the rate of fossil fuel-based energy.
Carrie Meek Gallagher, CEO of LIPA, also highlighted that South Fork Wind delivers particularly strong energy generation during the colder months, which means that when demand spikes, offshore wind can meet the demand when it is needed most.
At the same time, many traditional energy options face growing challenges. New natural-gas turbines — historically used to add power supply — currently face manufacturing backlogs that can stretch as long as seven years, and the cost of building new gas-fired plants has reached a 10-year high. There are also the land constraints that plague New York’s downstate region, making it almost impossible to build new power plants in such a densely populated region.
Offshore Wind Creates Local Jobs That Stay on Long Island
John Durso, president of the Long Island Federation of Labor, said clean energy investment is creating opportunities that extend far beyond the construction phase.
“It’s a wonderful opportunity here for our environment, for jobs, for the future,” Durso said. But just as important, he added, these projects create “not jobs but careers.”
Offshore wind projects require a highly trained workforce — from electricians and ironworkers to marine crews and engineers — and unions have been preparing workers through apprenticeship programs that can take years to complete.
In turn, those good-paying union jobs and careers support families and help keep spending local.
“The caterer, the deli, the dry cleaners, the grocery store, people all benefit because of these millions and millions of dollars that are being invested locally,” he said.
Addressing Environmental Concerns Around Offshore Wind
Offshore wind has been the subject of intense public debate, particularly when it comes to claims about whales, marine life and coastal impacts. But environmental advocates say the evidence tells a different story.
Adrienne Esposito, executive director of Citizens Campaign for the Environment, said the stakes are especially high for Long Island, which is already experiencing the effects of climate change.
“We have rising sea levels. We have more torrential rain events and rain downfalls. We have all sorts of impacts from climate change to our coastline,” Esposito said. “Long Islanders really are connected to our beaches, bays, and our ocean. And yet climate change is changing all that and degrading it.”
Renewable energy, she argued, offers clear environmental advantages.
“The wind blows, the turbines turn, and energy is produced,” Esposito said. “So the air quality is not impacted, and we’re not spilling oil into the ocean—you’ve never heard of a wind spill, but we have heard of an oil spill.”
Doug Schmid, executive committee member of the Sierra Club Long Island group and Environmental Science professor at Nassau Community College, studies marine mammals, and has pushed back against claims that offshore wind is responsible for whale deaths.
“They don’t harm marine mammals,” he said, noting that the leading causes of whale mortality are ship strikes and fishing gear entanglement. He said the effort to link offshore wind to whale deaths has been fueled by misinformation.
The performance of South Fork Wind itself, Esposito added, has helped challenge many of the myths surrounding offshore wind.
“Now that we have, in America, the first up and running offshore wind farm, the South Fork wind farm, for over a year now, all the myths are not true,” she said.
In fact, she said, studies have shown encouraging ecological signs around the turbines.
Supporters also reject the idea that offshore wind will damage tourism or ruin Long Island’s coastline. “I think it’s going to increase tourism,” Esposito said. “For people who think that someone is not gonna go to the beach on Long Island because 15 or 35 miles or 50 miles offshore there’s a wind farm are completely crazy.”
Instead, she said, the bigger threat to Long Island’s beaches and waterfront economy comes from climate change and fossil fuel pollution. “There’s nothing that’s gonna keep us away from the beach except an oil spill,” Esposito said.
Built for Long Island’s future
Schmid called offshore wind “win-win-win” for the region: more energy, cleaner power and better jobs.
Gallagher also made the point that wind is especially valuable in the colder months, while solar performs better in warmer ones. Together, they can help create a more balanced energy portfolio for the island.
The biggest takeaway from South Fork Wind, supporters say, is that Long Island no longer has to debate offshore wind in the abstract. It is already here. It is already generating power. And in their view, it is already proving that cleaner energy, affordable energy, and local economic growth can go hand in hand. Plus, as more projects like these come online, it will help combat price volatility and lower bills.
As Durso put it, “Long Island is building Long Island and maintaining Long Island—our homes, our places for our children, our grandchildren. We want it to be done right. We want it to be done on time and on budget, for the good of all of us.”