Public housing is excluded from the city’s clean-energy plan

The city is striking a deal for Canadian hydropower

The Alfred E. Smith Houses at 21 Saint James Place (Credit: Getty Images)
The Alfred E. Smith Houses at 21 Saint James Place (Credit: Getty Images)

The mayor’s plans for using clean energy at city buildings doesn’t include public housing or hospitals.

The de Blasio administration plans to supply buildings with Canadian hydropower, Crain’s New York reported. The mayor announced Monday that he would “pursue 100% carbon-free electricity supply for city government operations” through a deal withHydro-Quebec. The state-owned Canadian giant is constructing a transmission line between Montreal and Astoria, Queens.

Only city agency buildings and activities will be able to use the 4 million megawatt-hours of electricity. Because the New York City Housing Authority and the NYC Health + Hospitals network are public benefit corporations, they are technically distinct from city government.

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The administration said it would explore adding both systems to the plan in the future.

The City Council legislation passed last week did not subject public housing and hospitals to the same requirements as large private buildings. It wasn’t clear if the financial issues that both NYCHA and NYC Health + Hospitals are facing factored into their exclusion from the mayor’s hydropower pledge, the report said. [Crain’s] — Meenal Vamburkar