Schumer joins calls for wind plant
BY ROSE ADAMS & DEAN MOSES
Sen. Chuck Schumer joined
electeds on Dec. 28 to demand
that Sunset Park’s South
Brooklyn Marine Terminal become
the home of an offshore
wind turbine assembly plant.
“This is the dawn of robust
renewable energy here in New
York and here in Brooklyn,”
Schumer said. “These are the
kind of jobs that are created
and are thoughtful that we
should be pushing for. I’m going
to do everything I can to
get this done.”
The 72-acre Sunset Park
terminal, located just south of
Industry City, is one of several
ports under consideration to
become a turbine assembly
hub as part of New York State’s
effort to increase its dependence
on renewable energy.
Earlier this year, the state
asked energy companies to
submit proposals to build
wind farms off the coast of the
northeast that would be used
for New York State’s consumption.
The solicitation process,
which mirrored a similar solicitation
one year ago, drew
bids from three different energy
companies, whose proposals
COURIER L 14 IFE, JANUARY 1-7, 2021
are currently under
evaluation by the New York
State Energy Research and
Development Authority.
Each proposal had to commit
not only to creating more
than 1,500 megawatts of clean
energy, but also to transforming
a New York State port
into an assembly plant used
to build the turbines — which
are each as tall as the 77-story
Chrysler building.
The winning bid will receive
will receive $100 million in
grant funding, $100 million in
low-interest fi nancing and private
sector matching funds —
as well as $200 million in state
funding towards infrastructure
upgrades for the port.
Norwegian energy company
Equinor, which submitted
two bids for the offshore
wind solicitation, named the
South Brooklyn Marine Terminal
as its proposed wind
turbine assembly plant and
shipping location. Schumer
agreed that the terminal is the
right place for the job.
“Selecting the Sunset Park
terminal would offer signifi -
cant opportunities for job creation,
workforce development,
and overall economic investment
in the community — all
good things for Brooklyn,”
Schumer said at the Dec. 28
press conference.
The terminal is well-suited
for the state funding because
of its close proximity to Equinor’s
wind farms and because
the city has already made a
$50 million commitment to upgrade
the site, advocates say.
The new assembly hub
would also revive the vacant
South Brooklyn Marine Terminal,
which has been closed
for 20 years, and bring a needed
economic boost the community
hard-hit by COVID-19 by
creating “thousand” of manufacturing
jobs, Public Advocate
Jumaane Williams said.
“Many people ask, ‘Where
are the green jobs?’ That’s
what we are asking. They can
be right here if NYSERDA just
allows the $200 million to be
put on top of the investment
that was already here,” said
Williams, who fi rst called for
the state to invest in the port
in November and joined the
senator Monday.
“Making this part of the
offshore wind supply chain
would mean loads of local jobs
and clean technology manufacturing
jobs that have growth
potential,” he said. “This is a
plan with a future.”
A spokesman with NYSERDA
said that the winning
bids will be announced in
early 2021.
“NYSERDA is in the process
of evaluating bids received
in response to its solicitation
in accordance with the
New York State Public Service
Commissions’ prescribed criteria
of robust pricing, project
viability, and the ability to
maximize economic benefi ts
to New York State, including
investment in one or multiple
New York port facilities,” said
spokesman Aron Ashrafi oun.
Also in attendance Monday
were Sunset Park City
Councilman and mayoral candidate
Carlos Menchaca, and
Elizabeth Yeampierre, the director
of environmentalist
group Uprose.
The offshore wind procurement
is part of the state’s Climate
Leadership and Community
Protection Act (CLCPA),
which requires that 70 percent
of the New York’s energy be
derived from renewable energy
sources by 2030, and that
35 percent of the benefi ts go directly
to disadvantaged communities.
Schumer, who supported
the passage of the ambitious
climate legislation in 2019,
said that funding a wind turbine
plant in Sunset Park is
the logical next step to achieving
these goals.
“Let’s open this door and
let the wind be at Brooklyn’s
back,” he said.
Sen. Chuck Schumer joined Sunset
Park environmentalists in calling
on the state to help turn a Sunset
Park port into a wind turbine assembly
plant. Photo by Dean Moses
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