Offers advice

Noting wind project tax credit, Schumer offers business advice

Sen. Schumer is urging GE’S CEO to build its new offshore wind turbines in New York state — and possibly the Capital Region./

U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer personally urged General Electric Co. CEO Larry Culp Jr. in a recent telephone call to build its new Haliade-x offshore wind turbines in New York state — and possibly the Capital Region, a move with the potential to create hundreds of new highpaying manufacturing jobs in the area.

New York state has been pushing for a wind turbine assembly and staging area to be built by the Port of Albany on land along the Hudson River, although a Norwegian firm is expected to be the first potential tenant of the facility, which is located in the town of Bethlehem.

“GE’S long history in the state, its investments here, and its thousands of existing workers make New York an ideal place for the company to build its wind turbines and continue to grow its leadership in green wind power development and manufacturing,” said Schumer, who is poised to become Senate majority leader later this month.

GE employs thousands of workers in the Capital Region, mostly at the company’s historic Schenectady campus. Although GE’S renewable energy division is located in Paris, many workers in that unit are employed in Schenectady. Others at GE Research in Niskayuna are also involved in the design of the turbines.

The company does not make its wind turbines in New York state currently, although GE has a wind farm monitoring center in Schenectady. GE makes wind

turbines in Florida and Louisiana.

“GE employs thousands of workers in the state of New York, across six manufacturing facilities, in addition to partnering with over a thousand suppliers in the state,” a GE spokesman told the Times Union in a statement. “Should we need to build additional facilities for our Renewables business, we would weigh a number of factors in determining where to locate them, including access to customers, order volume and the general business environment.”

The new Haliade-x is the most powerful offshore wind turbine ever designed. Just one rotation of the blades can create enough electricity to power a house for two days. It is unclear where GE is currently planning to make the turbines, which were first announced in 2018.

Schumer said he helped push through a 30 percent federal investment tax credit on offshore wind projects in recent budget legislation. GE said it welcomed that effort greatly.

“We look forward to working with Sen. Schumer and New York’s federal and state delegation to ensure a strong future for all our businesses,” the GE spokesman added.

New York state has pushed for the Port of Albany to prepare sites along the Hudson River that could be used for large off-shore wind turbine assemblies, and supporting such sites has been a major focus of the Capital Region Economic Development Council despite the ongoing pandemic — showing how important a priority it is for the state.

Schumer says that New York state has committed to trying to develop 9,000 megawatts of offshore wind capacity by 2035, while other offshore wind farms are in the development stage along the Northeast coast. If GE were to win contracts for those projects, a site in upstate New York would be ideal, Schumer said.

However, most of GE’S orders for the Haliade-x are overseas, where the offshore wind market is much more developed and integrated into government policy.