'After 350 Years, Wind Power Returns To East Hampton': Renewable Energy Advocate Gives Nod To Town

EAST HAMPTON, NY — "After 350 years #Wind power returns to East Hampton."

The words were a joyful Facebook post Wednesday by Gordian Raacke, executive director of Renewable Energy Long Island, which accompanied a video of the glorious Hook Mill in East Hampton.

The post was meant to celebrate the return of wind power to East Hampton, he said.

"We posted it because with the South Fork Wind Farm to be built by Deepwater Wind 30-plus miles east of Montauk, the old East Hampton tradition of harnessing our offshore breezes is coming back to generate 100% renewable electricity for our community," Raacke said.

The Hook Mill, located on North Main Street in East Hampton, is an iconic sight in town. "From time to time they put the sails on and let it run," Raacke said.

In January, environmentalists, elected officials and the community lauded what they called a win for renewable energy as the Long Island Power Authority's board of trustees voted unanimously to approve the nation's largest offshore wind farm just 30 miles southeast of Montauk.

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo said the project is the first offshore wind farm in New York, and the approval of the South Fork Wind Farm, a 90 megawatt development, is the first step toward developing an area that can host up to 1,000 megawatts of offshore wind power.

The wind farm, which is out of sight from Long Island’s beaches, will provide enough electricity to power 50,000 Long Island homes with "clean, renewable energy, and will help meet increasing electricity demand on the South Fork of Long Island," Cuomo said in a release.

The vote came after Cuomo called on LIPA to approve the wind farm project and announced an commitment to develop up to 2.4 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2030 in his regional State of the State address on Long Island. The 2.4 gigawatt target, enough power generation for 1.25 million homes, is the largest commitment to offshore wind energy in United States history, he said.

The LIPA board approved a contract submitted by Deepwater Wind for the South Fork Wind Farm after a year-long process engaging the private sector for ideas and detailed cost modeling.

Raacke said this week that the offshore wind farm construction should start in 2021 and be completed by 2022 — and he said it's a major step forward.

"We are coming full circle on renewable energy," Raacke said. "Until we discovered fossil fuels we had been using renewable energy sources like wind, water and sun. With cheap coal, oil, and natural gas we forgot that nature provides us with abundant sources of clean energy. But today's renewable energy technologies, which are now cost-competitive or less expensive than fossil fuels, allow us once again to use clean, natural and local energy sources. And East Hampton is leading the way by striving to meet 100 percent of community-wide electricity consumption with offshore wind and other renewable energy sources."

Video, photo by Linda B. James.