CITIZEN POWER ALLIANCE

Under the plans, the new wind farm or farms are expected to come online by 2015, and provide power to the regional grid via a power purchase agreement with the New York Independent System Operator. The deadline for agreeing on the PPA is the end of May 2011.

Significantly, the NYPA has taken a similar approach to the Canadian province of Ontario's recently launched renewable RFP policy and will aim to ensure much of the economic value from the project will remain in the state. It said that it will give more favourable consideration to proposals that include the use of local labour and materials, to drive economic benefits from the large-scale wind project.

The NYPA proposal is not the only offshore wind project to be taking form on the Great Lakes. Canadian energy giant Canadian Hydro has acquired a similar 4.4 gigawatt project from wind energy specialist Wasatch Wind, while a number of other companies are known to be exploring offshore wind projects in the region, including US energy firm Duke Energy.

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