It’s a busy news day for wind power in New York:

• The Buffalo News reports that the New York Power Authority is giving up, at least for now, on its Great Lakes Offshore Wind Project;
• A group consisting of Con Edison, the Long Island Power Authority, and the New York Power Authority filed a lease application with a federal agency so it could build an offshore wind farm.;
• And the New York State Thruway Authority announced its plans to build five turbines at different Thruway exits.

The Great Lakes wind project could have had a direct effect on the Rochester area. NYPA considered an area off of Monroe County’s eastern Lake Ontario shore as a prime location for the wind farm. But many local politicians and some resident groups opposed the proposal, as did many politicians and residents in other Lake Ontario and Lake Erie counties and communities. Given the opposition, it’s not surprise that NYPA appears to be shelving the project.

At the same time, this is a missed opportunity, both in terms of greening the state’s power supply and creating jobs, albeit temporary construction jobs.

via One wind project halted, two advance – News Blog – Rochester City Newspaper.