📣The Latest News from Climate Jobs NY

Here’s the latest from Climate Jobs NY

NY’s Third Offshore Wind Solicitation is on the street!

After months of meetings, events, and webinars, New York’s third offshore wind solicitation is moving forward. On July 27, Governor Hochul announced the procurement of up to 2GW of offshore wind capacity for projects; supply chain investment plans (SCIP) of up to $300-$450 million to fund localize component manufacturing and ports; utilization of meshed-ready offshore grid connection for projects; and a workforce, jobs, and stakeholder engagement plans requirement. There are many facets of this solicitation, but here are the key wins we helped secure for organized labor:

Prevailing Wage and PLA language will apply to both the offshore developer’s project and its supply chain investment plan facilities
Requirement of Labor Peace Agreements for operations and maintenance jobs as a condition of ongoing REC (renewable energy credit) payments while the project is operational
Requirement to invest at least $117 million in domestic steel per 1GW of proposed generation, and additional domestic content incentives
Requirement for a workforce and jobs plan that ensure the jobs associated with the SCIP are reported. These disclosures include: a net job dollar amount, along with a number of short-term and long-term jobs being created which will eventually become a part of the final contract.
The solicitation also allows proposers to submit plans that address the repurposing of fossil generating facilities and the utilization of energy storage and decarbonization investments in emerging technologies like green hydrogen.

Check out the coverage from the Long Island Business News.

Climate Jobs NY will continue to work with the NYSERDA, industry, and our environmental and frontline community partners to be sure the offshore wind economy in NY is one centered on justice and good union jobs. The deadline for project proposals is December 22, 2022 with awardees anticipated to be selected by the first quarter of 2023. For more information on the RFP please visit NYSERDA’s website.

IBEW Local 3 Apprentices are Eager to Work in Offshore Wind!

In mid-July, Climate Jobs NY and our partners from Cornell's Industrial and Labor Relation's Labor Leading on Climate Initiative facilitated another climate change and offshore wind education seminar. We had over 200 apprentices from IBEW Local 3 turn out to learn about the impacts of climate change, NY's clean energy goals, and the role offshore wind plays in their future. It was an interactive and inspiring session. We will definitely see some of these apprentices working on offshore wind farms one day. It's closer than you may think!

Sunrise Wind Gets the Green Light from the Suffolk County Legislature

Echoing Tip O’Neil, "all politics is local"- especially local easements for offshore wind projects. This month the Suffolk County Legislature passed two resolutions that move Orsted/Eversource’s Sunrise Wind project forward. These resolutions provide the real estate easements needed for the underground onshore cables to be installed through county parkland and roadways to connect 880MW of renewable power to the Holbrook substation and distributed throughout the grid. The two resolutions, IR 1538 and 1544, passed with 17 yes’, one recusal and 16 yes’, one no, and one recusal, respectively.

CJNY, the Long Island Federation of Labor, and the Nassau/Suffolk Building Trades were proud to attend hearings and submit supportive testimony about the project.

FYI- the cable route includes portions of County Road 46-William Floyd Parkway, County Road 80-Montauk Highway, County Road 56-Victory Avenue and County Road 16-Horseblock Road (IR 1544) as well as parkland at Smith Point County Park, Smith Point County Marina, and Southaven County Park (IR 1538).

Have a safe, sustainable, and sharkless rest of your summer, and we will be back with more updates next month!