Senate Bill S2085

                                 
BILL NUMBER: S2085

SPONSOR: KAVANAGH
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the public service law and the environmental conserva-
tion law, in relation to establishing new targets for offshore wind
electricity generation

 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:

This bill establishes new ambitious offshore wind electricity generation
targets: 15 gigawatts by 2040, 18 gigawatts by 2045, and 20 gigawatts by
2050.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section one amends subdivision 1 of Section 137 of the Public Service
Law, as added by section 11 of part 0 of chapter 58 of the Laws of 2024,
to establish three additional offshore wind electricity generation
targets: 15 gigawatts by 2040, 18 gigawatts by 2045, and 20 gigawatts by
2050.
              

Section two amends subdivision 5 of Section 66-p of the Public Service
Law, as added by chapter 106 of the Laws of 2019, to establish three
additional offshore wind electricity generation targets: 15 gigawatts by
2040, 18 gigawatts by 2045, and 20 gigawatts by 2050.

Section three amends paragraph e of subdivision 13 of Section 75-0103 of
the Environmental Conservation Law, as added by Chapter 106 of the Laws
of 2019, to establish three additional offshore wind electricity gener-
ation targets: 15 gigawatts by 2040, 18 gigawatts by 2045, and 20 giga-
watts by 2050.

Section four 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 gigawatts (GW) of electricity generated by
offshore wind by 2035. Since then, the State has worked diligently
toward achieving this target, with the nation's first utility sized
offshore wind project, South Fork Wind, coming online in March of 2024,
providing 132 MW of power, enough to serve 70,000 Long Island house-
holds. Two additional projects, Empire Wind 1 and Sunrise Wind, are in
active development and, when completed, are expected to generate over
1,700 MW with additional solicitations from NYSERDA expected to be
released in 2025. 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
GW of offshore wind energy can be generated by 2035, just under 16 can
be generated by 2040, and a little more than 18 can be generated by 204
5.(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 business concluded that it
is feasible and desirable to adopt a target of 20 GW 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.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

2024: S6327 (Kavanagh) - REFERRED TO ENERGY AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS
/A7407 (Barrett) - referred to ways and means

2023: S6327 (Kavanagh) - REPORTED AND COMMITTED TO FINANCE /A7407
(Barrett) reported and referred to rules

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

To be determined.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately; provided, however, that the
amendments to subdivision 1 of section 137 of the public service law
made by section one of this act shall not affect the repeal of such
section and shall be deemed repealed therewith.