By Chris Sorensen, New York City
District Council of Carpenters
New York has a power problem, and it’s only getting bigger.
The state’s own grid operator, NYISO, has already warned that the downstate region faces growing risk of power shortages.
That warning isn’t abstract — it’s structural. Data centers are multiplying across the region, drawing enormous amounts of electricity to power the artificial intelligence boom. Electrification of buildings and transportation is accelerating, putting new and sustained demand on a grid that wasn’t designed to absorb it. And as older fossil fuel plants retire, the cushion we’ve historically relied on is shrinking.
Offshore wind isn’t just a climate policy. It’s a capacity solution.
And right now, it’s stalled.
That’s a problem for every New Yorker — and our members feel it personally, because they should be out there building right now.
South Fork Wind Proved the Model
We already know it works. South Fork Wind has been spinning for over a year, delivering power to Long Island when it matters most.
On the hottest days of summer, when the grid is stressed and energy is scarce, South Fork kept running. In its first full year of operation, it achieved a 46.3 percent capacity factor, generating electricity on 99 percent of all days in 2025.
It delivered. It proved that offshore wind isn’t theoretical — it is a reliable, scalable generation source that this region depends on.
And it proved that developers like Ørsted and Equinor, who have been genuine partners in how these projects get built, can work hand-in-hand with our labor to get the job done right.
Contractors like Haugland Group have been equally critical — not only as strong labor partners on the work itself, but as advocates who understand that a healthy offshore wind industry and a union workforce aren’t in tension.
They go together.
Transmission Means Jobs and Long-Term Reliability
Beyond the generation, the transmission infrastructure that comes with offshore wind will create thousands of additional jobs and strengthen a grid that has long needed the investment.
Every part of that work matters:
- Every cable run
- Every substation upgrade
- Every interconnection point
It is work — skilled work, union work — that improves reliability for decades.
The Current Pause Cannot Become the Future
So let’s be direct about the current moment: this pause is not what we wanted.
Our members want to be working. Every day an offshore wind project sits idle is a day New York’s capacity gap gets a little wider and a little harder to close.
We are not happy about that.
But we are not going to stand still either.
An Opportunity to Organize
This is an opportunity — not to celebrate, but to organize. To sit down with developers and demonstrate, with the track record we’ve already built, that the skilled carpenters of New York have the manpower, the training, and the expertise to take on more of this work.
South Fork is the proof of concept. Our members were there. They performed.
And the next generation of projects should reflect that — with a stronger commitment to union labor throughout the supply chain, including:
- The first foundation
- The transmission and grid infrastructure
- The substation and interconnection work
- The final cable pull
Ørsted and Equinor have shown that partnership is possible. Haugland Group has shown that local contractors can lead.
Now it’s time to lock that model in — to make it the standard, not the exception.
Let’s Get Back to Work
New York needs offshore wind to keep the lights on, manage rising demand, and build a grid fit for the next century.
We have the workers to build it.
Let’s get back to work.