New York to Become a Leading State on Renewable Energy Dependency
Gov. Hochul is pushing renewable energy goals for the state. Credit: Nicholas Doherty via Unsplash
New York State will continue to boost its use of environmentally friendly resources as Gov. Kathy Hochul announced the state’s new renewable energy projects for 2024.
On Oct. 24, Hochul published a press release detailing the new investments being made in efforts to push renewable energy as a larger provider for its residents per the state’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (Climate Act). According to the New York State Senate this is meant to “establish the New York State Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act to adopt measures to put the state on a path to reduce statewide greenhouse gas emissions by eighty-five percent by two [thousand] fifty and net zero emissions in all sectors of the economy.”
Included in the investment are multiple projects dedicated to offshore wind blade facilities, as well as multiple nacelle facilities, per the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.
The offshore wind farms supported through these upcoming projects will end up generating nine gigawatts of energy at a given time by 2035, which would be enough to generate electricity for more than six million homes.
This being a huge win not only for New York State but for the country as a whole, there still have been some setbacks against renewable energy. Although hundreds of billions of dollars are being invested into renewable energy projects, companies across the globe are being negatively affected by the stock market.
This year alone, the Invesco Solar E.T.F., headquarters in Atlanta, G.A., is down more than 40 percent; since 2021 it’s been down almost 60 percent. They are one of many with their investments trickling downward for the past two years.
For New York, state regulators rejected multiple European energy firms including Orsted and Equinor “to charge customers billions of dollars more under future power sale contracts,” with renewable energy. According to Reuters, this can lead to canceled or delayed projects as well as forcing some developers to cut plans of selling power to customers in New York.
If any cancellations were to occur from these firms, it could setback New York’s plan of reaching the goals in this recent renewable energy plan.
The silver lining still shines through with Ostred still committed to project developments in the United States even after pulling out of two projects off the coast of New Jersey.
Additionally, the Department of Energy (DOE) is on the path of building more clean energy projects. They announced the largest grid investment in history on Oct. 18, 2023 that includes $3.46 billion for 58 projects across 44 states.
Among these certain projects “there are various strategies to increase the integration of renewables, in total allowing more than 35 gigawatts of renewable energy to be brought online and expand the country’s renewable energy capacity by 10.5%.”
“Today, we are taking action to keep New York’s climate goals within reach, demonstrating to the nation how to recalibrate in the wake of global economic challenges while driving us toward a greener and more prosperous future for generations to come,” said Hochul at the announcement in Long Island, N.Y.