New York State and NYC are Emerging as a National Hub for the OSW Industry with Tremendous Progress over the Last Year
As Climate Week in New York City wraps up, New York Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) and New York City are continuing to advance New York’s offshore wind (OSW) industry, which will play a pivotal role in New York’s just transition towards a clean energy future and create new economic opportunities for all New Yorkers. In September 2021, the City and NYCEDC unveiled a 15-year, $191 million OSW Vision Plan to make New York a leading destination for the industry. Over the last year, tremendous progress has been made to establish New York as the nation’s primary hub for OSW.
New York City is playing a critical role in creating a nation-leading OSW hub by leveraging the city’s expertise in maritime infrastructure development, world-class talent base and workforce development system, and capacity for innovation across sectors—all while centering an equity focus as no other global destination has done before.
“The rapidly growing Offshore Wind industry will play a huge role in New York City’s transition to clean energy and carbon neutrality, while doing so in an equitable way that will create thousands of local jobs,” said NYCEDC President & CEO Andrew Kimball. “This is just the beginning for Offshore Wind in New York City, and we are excited to continue partnering with the private sector and communities across the city to bolster the efforts made in the past year to lay the groundwork for an innovative and high-wage, high-growth industry that all New Yorkers can benefit from.”
“New York City plays a critical role in ensuring the State reaches its nation-leading Climate Act Goals, including the development of 9,000 megawatts of offshore wind energy by 2035. NYSERDA applauds the city for its continued work in expanding ports and piers, and developing tomorrow’s clean energy workforce, to support the robust development of New York State’s burgeoning offshore wind sector,” said Doreen M. Harris, President and CEO, NYSERDA.
The OSW Industry Advisory Council, made up of community, business and nonprofit leaders with relevant expertise and experience, has provided critical guidance and feedback to ensure New York City has a just transition to a green economy and leading with equity while building this industry from the ground up.
Over the last year, New York City has reached major milestones in the development of the best in-class infrastructure that will support OSW construction and operation including:
- This September, The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) announced they completed its environmental review of the proposed Empire Wind OSW projects off New York.
- Last March, Mayor Adams announced an agreement to transform the city-owned South Brooklyn Marine Terminal (SBMT) into one of the largest OSW port facilities in the nation. Over the last year, tremendous progress has been made, with the design review 90% complete. The premier port will be located in Sunset Park and is poised to play a pivotal role as a marshaling port, operations and maintenance base, and electricity interconnection point that will be a forerunner serving US wind farms.
- Last December, NYCEDC awarded a conditional designation as developer to NorthPoint Development with the goal to transform a Rossville Municipal Site, a 33-acre city owned waterfront industrial property in Staten Island into a state-of-the-art OSW port facility for manufacturing and assembling wind turbine components. Additionally, the College of Staten Island will be the recipient of $566,000 of state funding to help train the next generation of professionals for OSW wind careers.
- Improvements to Homeport Pier located on Staten Island’s North Shore are underway. The legacy 1,400 ft US Navy built maritime facility is built for ocean going deep draft vessels. With investment in upgrades to mooring, electricity, and potable water the pier will benefit the OSW wind industry by providing best-in-class vessel tie-up space to support the construction and long-term maintenance and operation of New York Bight OSW farms.
- In October 2022, Empire State Development announced a $48 million federal grant awarded to Arthur Kill Terminal for OSW staging and assembly port on Staten Island.
Immense progress has also been made to prepare local workers & businesses to seize upon economic opportunities that will be created by these infrastructure investments. NYCEDC is working to support the creation of high-quality, family-sustaining jobs. This includes supporting pathways to unionized jobs through pre-apprenticeship programs. For example, with EDC’s support, KCC is offering a pre-apprenticeship program to support students in entering the Seafarers International Union. As a key player in New York City’s maritime economy through our management of ports, piers, terminals, and ferry landings, NYCEDC has direct access to marine and waterfront contracting opportunities.
- Starting September, Kingsborough Community College (KBCC) will offer workforce programs to students interested in entering the OSW industry, including maritime career training, welding training for OSW, and campus upgrades to gain certification for the Global Wind Organization (GWO) training. GWO training will begin next calendar year. Mayor Adams previously pledged $10 million to the City University of New York (CUNY) for capital costs associated with workforce development programs across associated campuses. In September 2022, CUNY and NYCEDC announced six CUNY colleges,including KBCC, as initial recipients of $3.98 million in City funding to help train the next generation of professionals for climate-smart careers.
- In June, NYCEDC launched the Summer of OSW on Staten Island, a free event series that educated Staten Islanders, including families, local businesses, and community institutions, about the existing and future opportunities that the OSW industry will bring to Staten Island communities and the local economy.
- In April, NYCEDC hosted the fourth annual OSW & Maritime Career Awareness Fair where 100 industry representatives and volunteers participated and nearly 500 high schoolers learned more about the developing maritime oriented green energy sector.
- In March 2023, NYCEDC and TMI Waterfront Services launched a first-of-its-kind OSW training program for Minority, Women-Owned and Disadvantaged Business Enterprises (MWDBEs) with the goal of eliminating barriers and easing participation in contracts. NYCEDC launched a second cohort on September 20, 2023, and is serving 14 firms.
NYCEDC and New York City have continued to support innovation, entrepreneurship, and a just transition to a green economy. In June 2022, the OSW Innovation Hub opened in Industry City, designed to spark innovation by facilitating testing opportunities, fast-track commercialization, and developing strategic partnerships. NYCEDC, along with Equinor, the Urban Future Lab (UFL) at the NY Tandon School of Engineering, and the National OSW R&D Consortium (NOWRDC), found and created the Innovation Hub. In June 2022, NYCEDC released a Request for Information (RFI) for catalytic OSW innovation and R&D project ideas and received 14 responses.
Currently, five OSW wind projects are in active development, three of which will be constructed out of SBMT. These three projects being implemented by Equinor will provide power directly into the New York City power grid. To date, the five awarded projects will power more than 2.4 million New York’s homes and bring a combined economic impact of $12.1 billion to the state.
Last January, Governor Hochul pledged to invest $500 million in ports, manufacturing, and supply chain infrastructure needed to advance its OSW industry. The third solicitation includes the first phase of the nation-leading investment. Applications for NYSERDA’s third OSW solicitation closed last February. NYSERDA currently expects to make award announcements by the end of the calendar year.
The City expects these initiatives to remove more than 34 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the environment — the equivalent of removing nearly 500,000 cars from roadways for 15 years — while creating 13,000 jobs related to OSW infrastructure across the five boroughs through NYC sites and infrastructure supporting the construction of 12 GW of OSW energy.
About NYCEDC
New York City Economic Development Corporation is a mission-driven, nonprofit organization that works for a vibrant, inclusive, and globally competitive economy for all New Yorkers. We take a comprehensive approach, through four main strategies: strengthen confidence in NYC as a great place to do business; grow innovative sectors with a focus on equity; build neighborhoods as places to live, learn, work, and play; and deliver sustainable infrastructure for communities and the city’s future economy. To learn more about what we do, visit us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram.
