New York gets Offshore Wind Training Institute

The State University of New York (SUNY) and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) have launched the Offshore Wind Training Institute (OWTI).

Through a partnership between SUNY’s Farmingdale State College and Stony Brook University, the USD 20 million investment will advance offshore wind training programs and the educational infrastructure needed to establish a workforce that can support the national offshore wind industry.

OWTI will certify and train 2,500 New York workers beginning this year to support both offshore and onshore renewable energy projects.

The institute already issued the first solicitation through which USD 3 million is being made available to support organizations focusing on early training and skills development, including pre-apprenticeship training, for disadvantaged communities and workforce training initiatives that build partnerships between businesses, labor, workforce development and training institutions to support local supply chains and manufacturing.

Selected institutions will aim to begin training workers shortly after the awards which are expected in the summer.

OWTI will also collaborate with the new National Offshore Wind Training Center (NOWTC) to establish offshore wind training in New York, and will work with Equinor’s workforce development and training initiatives in key regions across the state.

The announcement of the OWTI launch comes as NYSERDA selected the partnership of Equinor and BP as the winner of the second offshore wind solicitation in New York.

In 2019, New York set the goal of developing 9,000 MW of offshore wind by 2035, as outlined in the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act.