February, 2024
Offshore wind development is reviving ageing ports and terminals along America’s eastern seaboard. Developers have been encouraged by state and federal grants and the tax incentives in the Biden administration’s $369 Billion in climate funding in the Inflation Reduction Act.
The Port of Albany, in New York is rapidly becoming an engine of economic renewal.
The port hopes to produce as many as 100 state of the art wind towers a year. These would then be loaded in sections on to barges and floated 120 nautical miles downriver to a staging ground at a refurbished South Brooklyn Marine Terminal in Sunset Park, New York City. From there they would be ferried offshore on a plug-in hybrid ship to wind farms being built by Norwegian energy group Equinor and its partner BP.
“Albany is central to offshore wind’s supply chain in New York and the nation. The Capital Region has already seen an influx of economic activity because of the tremendous work that is ongoing at the Port of Albany in its transformational development of 100 acres to become an offshore wind manufacturing hub. This site is the largest fully permitted site for offshore wind manufacturing in the United States currently under construction. We hope to be a beacon for other states looking to grow local jobs, and economies while working with an industry that will supply clean energy for our future,” said Megan Daly, Port of Albany Chief Commerce Officer, NY.
Residents of Albany’s South End live in an impoverished environmental justice neighborhood next to the port. They are being offered training, without a college degree, for good paying jobs. “It’s generational,” said Megan Daly, the Port of Albany’s chief commerce officer, as she explained the impact that offshore wind could have not only on her facility but the wider region. “This could be a job for the rest of their life.”
Because of the offshore wind build out, the Port of Albany will add an additional 550 jobs on a permanent basis.