While the U.S. lags behind other developed countries when it comes to wind power, it’s making strides to catch up. Last week, the Long Island Power Authority gave the green light to building New York’s first commercial offshore wind farm. When completed, which could be as early as 2022, it will also be the country’s largest.
But that “largest” label is slightly less impressive when considering the fact that the U.S. currently only has one offshore wind farm—a six-turbine facility off of Block Island, Rhode Island. The new South Fork Wind Farm, which will be built southeast of Montauk, NY, will have 15 turbines and generate 90 megawatts of clean energy. That’s enough to power over 50,000 homes.
New York State has even more ambitious plans in the works. Earlier this month in his 2017 State of the State address, Governor Andrew Cuomo promised to build enough offshore wind farms to power 1.25 million households in the coming decade or so.
“New York leads the nation in pioneering clean energy innovation, and this bold action marks the next step in our unprecedented commitment to offshore wind, as well as our ambitious long-term energy goal of supplying half of all electricity from renewable sources by 2030,” said Governor Cuomo in a statement.
Via: Inhabitat