US issues Clean Air Permit to New York's Empire Offshore Wind project

(Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Thursday, granted a Clean Air Act permit to New York's Empire Offshore Wind LLC. owned by Equinor.

The permit was given after an air quality analysis showed federal air quality standards would not be compromised during construction and operation of the project, the agency said.

"When built, this project is expected to generate more than 2,000 megawatts of electrical power for New York State – enough to power as many as a million homes,” said Regional Administrator Lisa F. Garcia in the release.

The Empire Wind project will include two offshore wind farms, 816-MW Empire Wind 1 and 1,260-MW Empire Wind 2, located about 12 nautical miles (nm) south of Long Island, and about 17 nm east of Long Branch, New Jersey.

Together, its 147 turbines will be capable of producing renewable power for more than 700,000 homes each year, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management estimated.

Under the Clean Air Act, the EPA is tasked with approving state permitting plans to reduce pollution in areas with ozone pollution in the U.S. and ozone is a key component of smog, which can exacerbate asthma and other health concerns.

This project is one of the several offshore wind projects facing construction and financing cost blowouts that the troubled industry says would not be covered by existing power sales contracts, but it could be helped by a new auction planned by New York state.

(Reporting by Daksh Grover in Bengaluru; Editing by David Gregorio)