I’m proud to say my hometown of Brooklyn is listed as a major tourist destination by leading travel publications. Why not? You can visit the only aquarium in New York City and have lunch at Nathan’s Famous. In fact, Brooklyn, if it were not a borough in New York City, would be the 3rd largest city in America, after Los Angeles and Chicago. That city would also be at the cutting edge of sustainable energy.
Now, I can also be proud to write this article combining my love for Brooklyn with two of my favorite topics: innovation and sustainability. A recent article on Canary Media, describes how Brooklyn aims to become a hub for storing and assembling offshore wind turbines. Equinor, the Norwegian energy giant, and its partner BP, plan to build a staging ground for the sprawling wind projects they’re developing in the Atlantic Ocean. Beacon Wind, is planned for an area of 128,000 acres in federal waters approximately 60 miles east of Montauk Point and 20 miles south of Nantucket. When complete, Beacon Wind will provide 1,230 MW of reliable, renewable offshore wind power for households in the Northeast United States. This offshore wind farm will be among the first to appear in U.S. waters.
This sustainable energy project creates a need to store, assemble, and repair the enormous blades and towers of offshore wind turbines — some of which stand nearly 900 feet tall — before hauling them out to sea. Specialized vessels carrying turbine parts and crew members also will need to load, unload, and refuel. That’s going to be happening at Brooklyn’s Sunset Park facility, which will be among the first of its kind on U.S. shores.
South Brooklyn Marine and Sustainable Energy
Of course, there’s innovation at play in getting sustainable power from the wind, but I’ll also note the innovative collaboration of political and governmental organizations to bring the revitalizing business to Brooklyn’s waterfront. Many New York City (NYC) agencies had to work together to bring this project to the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal. It surely helped that the effort brings 1,200 jobs in construction and operations.
Yet, Brooklyn’s Sunset Park has further history of green energy. The first cooperatively owned community solar project producing 685-kilowatts of sustainable energy was started in 2019 on the rooftop of the Brooklyn Army Terminal. The project serves approximately 200 households and businesses and was projected to result in more than $1 million in net electricity bill savings for New Yorkers over 25 years.
It makes me happy to see my old stomping grounds leading in innovation and sustainability. Let me know what your hometowns are up to. I’m sure you have some interesting stories to share as globally we work together to prioritize sustainable energy.