The U.S. secretary of the interior visited the Capital Region on Thursday to tour the nation's first offshore wind tower manufacturing facility under construction at the Port of Albany as the project is mired in delays and funding gaps.

Top state officials and President Joe Biden's administration have prioritized developing clean energy nationwide, and increasing the domestic offshore wind supply chain to combat climate change and create jobs. U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Director Liz Klein and Rep. Paul Tonko, D-20, toured the port and held a roundtable discussion with local officials involved in offshore wind manufacturing in preparation to offset emerging issues surrounding the new technology that could slow projects down.

"Offshore wind has been a focus of the office of the interior for more than a decade now, but never before have we seen the kind of energy, enthusiasm and resources coast to coast that we're seeing now," she said.

Thursday marked the second time in 10 days a member of Biden's cabinet visited the Capital Region as part of the administration's Investing in America tour. Haaland focused on recent efforts to gain control of the clean energy market to combat climate change and create thousands of jobs after Congress passed the CHIPS and Science Act, bipartisan Infrastructure law and Inflation Reduction Act last year.

The secretary's visit comes amid five offshore wind projects in active development in the state, which the state Energy Research and Development Authority has said is the largest in the nation. NYSERDA is expected to announce awards for several other projects later this summer.

"This state has long been a leader in advancing offshore wind," Haaland said. "By joining us to establish the most ambitious offshore wind goals in the nation, you have helped create the current excitement in the market that we see today."

But there's concerns muddying Haaland's cited enthusiasm amid the planned state and federal investments as the offshore wind tower plant under construction at the Port of Albany continues to encounter significant delays. 

The large project, intended to help the state achieve its steep climate and greenhouse gas reduction goals, has a $350 million funding gap, port officials said Thursday, and it took months for the port to secure proper permits.

Port of Albany CEO Richard Hendrick said in a statement Thursday's visit with Secretary Haaland, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Director Klein and Tonko allowed federal officials to witness progress on the nation's first offshore wind tower manufacturing facility and for stakeholders involved to share their hopes and concerns as the project advances.

"All of the project partners — Equinor, Marmen, The Port of Albany and NYSERDA — were able to share some of the challenges and highlight the substantial opportunities from the development and the overall initiative," Hendrick said. "Seeing the Port of Expansion Project construction site firsthand reinforces the massive work going on. The project is progressing in a phased approach to offset, but still move forward in the face of a $350M funding gap.”

The insufficient funds stem from increased construction costs, and the port losing a $28 million federal grant last year starting work before environmental reviews were completed.

Federal officials declined to say if the port will have other opportunities to secure more federal funding and help make up the difference.

"We're in the midst of putting a budget together now," Tonko said. "But obviously, this is the start of a long journey."

Reporters were invited to attend U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona's tour of Hudson Valley Community College last week, as well as a similar roundtable discussion about careers in technical education. The event was also part of Biden's Investing in America tour.

Thursday's tour of the port site and following discussion was closed to reporters — indicating topics of discussion with federal officials were meant to be concealed from the public.

Tonko says work continues to create standards for the new industry and reform the national lengthy permitting process to make the U.S. economy more competitive in the clean energy race.

"Europe can turn this out quicker, so we want to learn from that and provide for the permitting, expediting, without denying the consumer activity at the front end of the process," the congressman said. "These are ideas that are coming along and getting worked through the process. I think the investment made and the commitment made and now the actual review of projects has now inspired a lot of other activities."

The secretary and congressman held a roundtable discussion with local officials involved in offshore wind manufacturing about the necessary technology and education.

They discussed potential work studies to develop programs to train union workers with the proper construction skills for the wind industry.

Tonko says the hurdles should not deter advancement, or Biden's goal to deploy 30 gigawatts of offshore wind energy capacity by 2030.

"Doing nothing is not going to work for our planet, or for our economy, work for our environment and work for our workers," Tonko said. "...I very well see us becoming an epicenter of offshore wind here. We're graced by the Hudson River. So with these huge elements that are produced, foundations towers, things that we know can be built here with the excellent skilled labor that we have — union labor that we have, we can then ship them out to the New York Harbor and along the Eastern Seaboard."

Federal officials say they're confident they can work through additional bumps in the road as offshore wind development takes off, and likened the new industry to last century's transition to electricity or the automobile. 

"We're starting this transition," Haaland said. "We know that it hasn't always been easy, but that doesn't mean that anyone gives up. We'll just keep working at it."