New York Governor Aims to Quadruple Offshore Wind, But Prohibit Offshore Drilling

New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo set new renewable energy goals for his state—including quadrupling its offshore wind power production—in his 2019 State of the State address on 15 January 2019. The goals were also published as part of the state’s official 2019 agenda.

“Let us set the goal: 100 percent clean power by 2040,” the governor said in his speech.

According to the newly re-elected governor, the mandate is the most aggressive goal of its kind in the U.S. While it is similar to the goal set by California, the target date is five years sooner.

The foundation of New York’s 100% goal is upping the state’s Clean Energy Standard (CES) from 50% to 70% renewable energy by 2030. The agenda also includes investing $200 million in New York port infrastructure, establishing a New York State Advisory Council on Offshore Wind Economic and Workforce Development, investing in an offshore wind training center, and initiating an effort to facilitate the development of an offshore wind transmission grid.

Liz Burdock, CEO & President for The Business Network for Offshore Wind, responded to the news by thanking Governor Cuomo for making offshore wind energy a critical piece of his mandate and for increasing the state’s offshore wind target from 2,400 megawatts by 2030 to 9,000 MW by 2035.

“This is a massive increase and sends a clear message to the industry that New York is taking a leadership position in the U.S. offshore wind market,” Burdock said. “We also thank the Governor for asking for $200 million in port infrastructure, and investments in a training center and the development of an offshore transmission grid to make development more efficient and affordable for taxpayers and ratepayers. New York is off to a great start in 2019.”

Cuomo said, “Offshore wind has potential – we know it – [and] the industry is moving that way. We want to locate the industry in this state, and we want to use it as an alternative.”

In part four of state’s official 2019 agenda, “Launching the Green New Deal,” New York’s ramp-up of renewable energy will include:

• Quadrupling New York’s offshore wind target to 9,000 megawatts by 2035, up from 2,400 megawatts by 2030;
• Doubling distributed solar deployment to 6,000 megawatts by 2025, up from 3,000 megawatts by 2023;
• More than doubling new large-scale land-based wind and solar resources through the Clean Energy Standard;
• Maximizing the contributions and potential of New York's existing renewable resources;
• Deploying 3,000 megawatts of energy storage by 2030.

The official 2019 agenda also aims to prohibit offshore drilling off the coast of New York by:

• Prohibiting leases for oil and gas exploration or production in New York waters, including Long Island, New York City, and the Hudson River;
• Prohibiting infrastructure on State land associated with offshore oil and gas production in the North Atlantic;
• Prohibiting transportation within the navigable waters of the state of crude oil produced from the federal waters, designated as the “North Atlantic Planning Area.”