A once bustling cargo operation at the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal will soon be an epicenter of renewable wind energy in New York — the largest in the nation.
“This 73-acre site has a long history of being job rich in the Brooklyn waterfront and was for a number of decades the type of facility that brought in marine cargo,” Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer told NY1. “You fast forward, after a number of years being underutilized, we came up with a vision of utilizing the site to accomplish clean energy goals.”
What You Need To Know
- The 73-acre site at the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal will be the largest wind hub in the country
- The wind turbines will be used to generate energy off the southern coast of Long Island
- The Empire Wind project will start with 54 turbines, producing enough energy for 500,000 New York homes estimated to be delivered to the grid by late 2026
There was an honorary groundbreaking for construction of the wind hub that is expected to cost $861 million.
On the site, wind turbines will be built, maintained and shipped out to be set up 15 miles off the southern shore of long island to generate renewable energy for New York — a project, called Empire Wind. There will also be a substation so that wind energy can connect right into the New York City grid.
“What does it mean? Four words, jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs,” Mayor Eric Adams said at the groundbreaking. “Not only the turbines and the jobs that come from that, from manufacturing the turbines, but also imagine people stopping at the local bodegas, the local restaurants.”
A Norwegian oil and gas company, Equinor, is behind this wind project.
“Because it was dormant, there was a high interest in revitalizing this area to return it to a beautiful industrial site,” Molly Morris, president of Equinor Renewables Americas, told NY1.
So while city officials get to see a piece of industrial property used to its full potential, the renewable energy industry gets a chance to mature here in New York.
“The goal is that we’re able to build many more of these between us and others in the industry and also creating a supply chain in the U.S. that ultimately will help reduce the cost of this,” she said. “When we look at Europe, they’re at least 10 to 15 years ahead of us.”
But there is a trade off — higher energy prices for consumers, an issue Rep. Dan Goldman (D - Manhattan/Brooklyn) addressed.
“It will initially go up, a few pennies. It is not going to be significant but what is important about this, as the first one that will actually bring energy to the New York City grid, is like with all new technologies we learn a lot from it, we learn from the process and invariably, the process becomes cheaper,” Goldman said.
The Empire Wind project will start with 54 turbines, producing enough energy for 500,000 New York homes estimated to be delivered to the grid by late 2026.