Deepwater Wind, a U.S.-based offshore wind and transmission developer, announced a collaborative study of Long Island’s offshore wind resources with Stony Brook University (SBU), New York’s top-ranked public university, and AWS Truepower (AWS), an Albany, N.Y.-based renewable energy consultant.

Already underway, this collaboration will provide SBU with tools and resources that will strengthen its research in the growing renewable energy industry and support the development of the Deepwater ONE project – a 210 MW offshore wind farm to be located approximately 30 miles east of Montauk, proposed by Deepwater Wind in response to a Long Island Power Authority request for proposals for renewable energy.

“Offshore wind energy can provide a much-needed source of new, renewable energy for the East End of Long Island while reducing fossil-fuel emissions, stabilizing energy costs and generating new jobs and investment,” said Deepwater Wind CEO Jeffrey Grybowski.

As part of this study, Deepwater Wind is providing both equipment and funding to support SBU’s ongoing coastal wind research programs. Two wind monitoring devices, known as Light Detecting and Ranging systems (LiDAR), have already been deployed, one at the university’s Southampton campus and one on Block Island. Rhode Island. These LiDAR units continuously monitor wind speed and direction. Data collected from the devices will be combined with data from another SBU field study, funded by a U.S. Department of Energy grant, to improve wind predictions over the ocean and generate better regional wind resource maps.

(Photo: Barrow Offshore Wind Farm, Credit: Wikipedia)