This spring, [New York C]ity's Department of Environmental Protection will solicit plans for the first major wind project, the installation of turbines atop the Fresh Kills landfill in Staten Island. And city planners are working on zoning changes, now under review by the City Planning Commission, to allow turbines up to 55 feet high on the rooftops of buildings taller than 100 feet, and even taller turbines on commercial and industrial sites along the waterfront.

But the biggest potential for supplying wind power to the city lies offshore, where the Bloomberg administration is supporting anapplicationfiled last September by a coalition led by theNew York Power Authorityto lease a swath of the ocean floor for a wind farm 13 miles off the coast of the Rockaways in Queens.

Environmental groups say New York has been less focused on tapping into wind than some of these neighboring states but this year the New York Department of State is expected to identify the most viable locations for offshore wind farms with an eye toward protecting shipping, commercial fishing and ocean habitats - an approach that experts say should save time and red tape and help attract developers looking to begin such a project.

via New York to Renew Push for Wind Power - NYTimes.com.

See also the NYT blog post referencing this story.