With a major budget deficit, economic staples like tourism and hospitality hurting from the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, and need to tackle climate change, New York seeks to position itself as a leader in the “Green Economy”. As part of his 2021 agenda, Governor Cuomo laid out a massive push toward renewable energy that seeks to create 50,000 jobs, spur $29 billion in private investment, and power six million homes.
The main pieces to the robust green plan are:
- Build large scale renewable projects:
- Two new offshore wind farms more than 20 miles off the shore of Long Island. They will yield a combined 2,490 megawatts of carbon-free energy, bring another $8.9 billion in investment, and create more than 5,200 jobs.
- Start New York manufacturing, five dedicated port facilities, including:
- An offshore wind tower-manufacturing facility to be built at the Port of Albany.
- An offshore wind turbine staging facility and operations and maintenance hub at the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal.
- Increasing the use of the Port of Coeymans for cutting-edge turbine foundation manufacturing, and
- Buttressing the ongoing operations and maintenance out of Port Jefferson and Port of Montauk Harbor in Long Island.
- A combined $644 million investment (public and private) in these port facilities and will ultimately yield 2,600 short- and long-term jobs in the offshore wind industry.
- Build transmission capacity. New York has issued Request for Proposals to build a green transmission grid:
- Run from the northeast corner of the state to New York City, a route of about 330 miles.
- Add capacity from Massena, to Marcy, to Rock Tavern in Orange County, and then would build a new line underground to carry power 70 miles to New York City.
- Run from Leeds in Greene County to New York City.
- Create green-energy workforce development. A $20 million Offshore Wind Training Institute:
- SUNY Stony Brook and Farmingdale State College.
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