NEW YORK CITY-Solar, wind, biotech and other green industries are beginning to blossom on Staten Island. The borough’s “Green Zone” plan has been kicked into high gear after the Staten Island Economic Development Corp. approved engineering consultant PB Americas Inc. to produce a federally funded study for the Island’s green industrial and manufacturing cluster late Wednesday.

The zone--spanning from the foot of Goethals Bridge down to the Fresh Kills Landfill--is an initiative spearheaded by the SIEDC to bring clean tech and green industrial facilities to 4,000 acres of underdeveloped manufacturing lands along the West Shore here. “The main issue that we are trying to figure out here with the green zone is how do we keep businesses competitive and how do we keep Staten Island competitive when we have so much competition from New Jersey,” says Steve Grillo, program manager at the SIEDC, in an interview with GlobeSt.com. Earlier in the year, the nonprofit received a $120,000 grant from the US Economic Development Administration to fund the creation of the plan. “We are looking at probably 500 to 700 acres of truly developable land that we want companies to come in and either start up green businesses or use the land for urban agriculture,” Grillo adds. “We are also doing a lot of retro-fittings of buildings that are out there.”

Following a three-month RFP process, Grillo says the SIEDC chose PB Americas based on their local expertise and global reach. “They have a great worldwide planning firm,” he says. “Plus they’ve done a lot of projects on Staten Island, as well as on the West Shore itself.”