Earlier this week, Suffolk County executive Steve Bellone and Brookhaven Town supervisor Ed Romaine announced a giant step forward to cement Suffolk County as a national leader of the growing offshore wind industry. 
The leaders announced the town of Brookhaven has come to terms on a Host Community Agreement (HCA) with Sunrise Wind, an offshore wind project that will generate enough clean energy for nearly 600,000 New York homes annually and bring more than $700 million of investment for assets, jobs and programming in Suffolk County. Sunrise Wind will be the second project to connect to the local grid in Suffolk County, following South Fork Wind—New York’s first offshore wind farm — which is currently under construction and expected to be operational by the end of this year.  Both projects are being developed through a joint venture between Ørsted, the global leader in offshore wind, and Eversource, New England’s largest energy provider and experts in regional energy transmission.

“Offshore wind presents tremendous potential in New York’s transition to a zero-emission economy, and I am pleased to see that this critical milestone has been reached. Now the residents of Brookhaven and Suffolk County can begin to benefit from hundreds of millions of dollars in local investments, a great example of what renewable energy development can bring to host communities,” said New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) president and CEO Doreen M. Harris. “NYSERDA looks forward to continuing to partner with Sunrise Wind as we work together to ensure these economic and environmental benefits unfold starting now, from construction through operation.”  
“Offshore wind is our nation’s clean energy future, and Suffolk County is now firmly at the forefront of this industry,” said Bellone. “In addition to the considerable benefits of this project, including hundreds of union jobs, the Host Community Agreement will generate millions of dollars in funding for important community projects including expanding sewers in the Forge River watershed.”
“I am proud that the Town of Brookhaven, in conjunction with Sunrise Wind, is taking the lead on a project that will generate clean green energy, create lasting employment, and put Suffolk County on the cutting edge of offshore wind operations,” added Romaine. 
The project’s wind turbines will be located approximately 30 miles east of Montauk and will deliver clean energy to the Long Island grid via a 124-mile power export cable. The planned onshore route for the transmission line includes making landfall deep under the beach at Smith Point County Park, then routing 18 miles under publicly owned roads and rights-of-way to a point of interconnection with the existing grid in Holbrook.    

Similar to the process for South Fork Wind, the HCA for Sunrise Wind is being made in connection with the granting of real estate rights required for installation of the onshore portion of the underground transmission line. Additionally, the Brookhaven Industrial Development Agency has approved a payment-in-lieu of taxes (PILOT) agreement for the project.
Under the terms of these agreements, Sunrise Wind would pay a total of $169.9 million over 25 years, inclusive of the $28 million PILOT, and including $5 million towards construction of a Tri-Hamlet Park and projects in the community.  
Sunrise Wind is scheduled to begin construction later this year. In total, the project will result in more than $700 million of investment by Sunrise Wind over the 25-year project life for strategic assets, jobs, and programming in Suffolk County, including:   

$10 million for a National Offshore Wind Training Center in Brentwood.   

A state-of-the-art Operations and Maintenance Hub in East Setauket that will create up to 100 new long terms jobs.  

The designation of Port Jefferson as the home port of the project’s custom-built 260-foot Service Operation Vessel.  

$5 million for a Research and Development Partnership with Stony Brook University  

Hundreds of union construction jobs to build the 18-mile underground transmission infrastructure and interconnection facilities.  

In November 2022, the New York Public Service Commission approved Sunrise Wind’s transmission route in a joint proposal that was unopposed by any party, positioning it to be the second successfully completed offshore wind farm in New York State after South Fork Wind.