Largest US offshore wind farm approved for construction in NY 
The state of New York approved a proposed 90 MW wind farm, the South Fork Wind Farm, to be built off the coast of Long Island. This is a significant milestone for parent company Deepwater Wind, which is now in a good position to convince investors to finance it. If built, this would be the US’s second offshore wind farm — the first, Deepwater Wind’s 30 MW Block Island Wind Farm, began operating off the coast of Rhode Island in the summer of 2016.

It has been given new life by New York’s push to meet Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s goal of drawing 50 percent of the state’s power from renewable sources by 2030. That goal includes 2.4 gigawatts of offshore wind, enough to power 1.25 million homes. It is the largest commitment to offshore wind in the country and is part of the state’s way of showing the nascent industry it is serious about developing the resource.

“This project will not only provide a new, reliable source of clean energy but will also create high-paying jobs, continue our efforts to combat climate change and help preserve our environment,” Mr. Cuomo said Wednesday in a statement, two weeks after he publicly called for the power authority to approve the proposal.

The project’s cost was projected at $1 billion but is now expected to be $740 million. Deepwater plans to finance the project with loans and equity investments, according to Jeffrey Grybowski, the company’s chief executive. Mr. Grybowski expressed confidence that the project would qualify for an investment tax credit, set to phase out at the end of 2019, that is worth 24 percent of the development’s cost. Whether it does, however, could be open to interpretation by the Treasury.

The turbines, each roughly 600 feet tall, would be connected to a substation in East Hampton by a 50-mile undersea cable. The town has a goal of its own: meeting all of its electric demand with renewable energy by 2020.

Other offshore wind projects, notably one off Cape Cod, have encountered opposition over their effect on ocean views. But Deepwater has said the turbines supplying East Hampton would not be visible from Montauk, on the tip of Long Island, and would barely be visible from Martha’s Vineyard, 15 miles away.