Orange County is pushing to be one of the offshore wind component manufacturers

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Offshore wind turbines.

NEWBURGH -The Newburgh-New Windsor area is hoping to be selected as one of the sites for a steel fabricating facility for the production of offshore wind electric generating components.

If selected the project would mean a boon for Orange County, said Maureen Halahan, president of the Orange County Partnership.

“The City of Newburgh and the Town of New Windsor would greatly benefit for having a green energy manufacturing plant there,” she said.  “It would create hundreds of jobs and it’s a perfect location for that type of green energy manufacturing components for offshore wind.”

If selected, the components would be shipped down the Hudson River and eventually to the Long Island Sound where they would be assembled and put to use.

The eastern Orange site has the support of County Executive Steven Neuhaus, State Senators Rob Rolison and James Skoufis, SUNY Orange President Dr. Kristine Young, and Todd Diorio, president of the Hudson Valley Building and Construction Trades Council.  Newburgh City officials also indicated their early support of the project, and said that the conversations they have had with company officials have been positive.

The enterprise would be a joint venture between RWE and National Grid called Community Offshore Wind.  In the proposed agreement, they would partner with four unique steel fabricators and manufacturers to establish a statewide steel consortium in New York.  The agreements will contribute toward increasing the production of domestic steel for offshore wind foundations.

In addition to the necessary local approvals, Community Offshore Wind’s proposal would need to be selected by New York State Energy Research & Development Authority.  It is estimated that Community Offshore Wind would support approximately 300 jobs in Orange County in steel fabrication and processing.




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