BILL NUMBER: S6327A

SPONSOR: KAVANAGH
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the executive law and the environmental conservation
law, in relation to establishing new targets for offshore wind electric-
ity generation

 
PURPOSE OF BILL:

This bill increases the State's offshore wind electricity generation
target for 2035 established by the Climate Leadership and Community
Protection Act (CLCPA) and establishes new ambitious targets for 2040,
2045, and 2050.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section one of the bill amends the state's offshore wind electricity
generation targets found in paragraph (b) of subdivision 2 of section
94-c of the executive law, as added by section 4 of part JJJ of chapter
58 of the laws of 2020. The bill increases the current 2035 target from
              

9,000 megawatts (9 gigawatts) to 9,900 megawatts and establishes three
additional targets: 15,800 megawatts by 2040, 18,000 megawatts by 2045,
and 20,000 megawatts by 2050.

Section two of the bill amends paragraph (e) of subdivision 13 of
section 75-0103 of the environmental conservation law, as added by chap-
ter 106 of the laws of 2019, to increase the current offshore wind elec-
tricity generation targets from 9,000 megawatts (9 gigawatts) to 9,900
megawatts and establishes three additional targets: 15,800 megawatts by
2040, 18,000 megawatts by 2045, and 20,000 megawatts by 2050.

Section three of the bill sets forth the effective date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

In 2019, New York State enacted the Climate Leadership and Community
Protection Act (CLCPA), the nation's most comprehensive climate legis-
lation. In 2020, the State enacted specific statutory CLCPA targets for
renewable energy generation, including a requirement that the State
procure a minimum of 9,000 megawatts of electricity generated by
offshore wind by 2035.

Since then, the State has worked diligently toward achieving this
target, with five offshore wind projects already in active development
that are expected to generate over 4,300 megawatts and a solicitation
announced in July 2022 that is intended to procure at least 2,000 addi-
tional megawatts. New York's efforts are also supported by large invest-
ments to fund offshore and onshore transmission expansion, port
upgrades, manufacturing, and supply chain infrastructure, while prior-
itizing prevailing wages and labor agreements, to create excellent
career opportunities and the skilled workforce that will be necessary
for greater expansion for many years to come. The prospects of offshore
wind development have been boosted further by auctions for wind energy
lease areas proximate to New York conducted by the U.S. Bureau of Ocean
Energy Management, federal incentives, and large-scale investments by
the private sector. There is a growing consensus that the State should
formally adopt more ambitious and longer term targets to reflect the
progress made to date and the promise that offshore wind holds to help
achieve New York's aspirations on climate change.

The CLCPA established the Climate Action Council, which was tasked with
creating a Scoping Plan that serves as a blueprint for how the State
will cut greenhouse gasses and achieve net-zero emissions, increase the
use of renewable energy sources, and ensure climate justice. The Council
reviewed various scenarios for meeting the State's climate targets and
deemed it to be ambitious but feasible and cost-effective to assume that
just under 10,000 megawatts of offshore wind energy can be generated by
2035, just under 16,000 can be generated by 2040, and a little more than
18,000 can be generated by 2045. (These figures appear in the Council's
Scoping Plan in Appendix G, "Capacity and Generation Results: Scenario
4.") In December 2022, a broad coalition of stakeholders representing
the renewable energy sector, environmental advocates, labor, and busi-
ness concluded that it is feasible and desirable to adopt a target of
20,000 megawatts by 2050.

This bill, by setting a series of ambitious targets for offshore wind
electricity generation that can be achieved between now and 2050, will
help ensure that we stay on track to meet the challenges posed by
climate change and make New York a national model for renewable energy
generation, while ushering in a far more environmentally sustainable,
healthy, affordable, and economically secure future for all New Yorkers.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

This is a new bill.

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

To be determined.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately; provided, however, that the
amendments to section 94-c of the executive law, made by section one of
this act, shall not affect the repeal of such section and shall be
deemed repealed therewith.