Wind Power Projects Lift Off in NYC

Seeking to take advantage of its coastal location, New York City planning for wind power projects on land and sea. The first project out of the gate will likely be land-based. According to Navarro, "This spring, the city's Department of Environmental Protection will solicit plans for the first major wind project, the installation of turbines atop the Fresh Kills landfill in Staten Island."

Although the land-based efforts to harness the power of the wind may be first, they are unlikely to be the most substantial. Navarro writes that, "the biggest potential for supplying wind power to the city lies offshore, where the Bloomberg administration is supporting an application filed last September by a coalition led by the New York Power Authority to lease a swath of the ocean floor for a wind farm 13 miles off the coast of the Rockaways in Queens."

"The proposal for the offshore wind farm, which is scheduled for a public hearing before the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management next month, is considered a game changer in that it would start at 350 megawatts but have the potential to double its capacity - eventually generating enough electricity to power a half-million homes in New York City and Long Island. "

Although New York is among a host of East Coast states attempting to ramp up wind production, the concerns (environmental and cost related) that have held up efforts in other east coast states, will need to be overcome for the state to meet its "goal of deriving 30 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2015."