New York must become a leader in green jobs and renewable energies in the country in order to transition to end to carbon-based fuels in the coming decades while creating tens of thousands of jobs in the process, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Wednesday. 

"It is harder done than said and that's why so little has been done and so much has been said," Cuomo said in the third part of his four-day State of the State agenda being laid out this week. 

Cuomo's energy policy in large part focuses on four broad areas: building large-scale renewable energy projects; ending the reliance on green technology from other countries in New York; boosting transmission; and training a workforce to help build those projects. 

Cuomo wants to create thousands of jobs and inject billions of dollars in wind and solar energies as well as solve the nettlesome and long-standing puzzle of energy transmission from upstate New York to the metropolitan region. 

The effort is meant to combat climate change and pull the state out of an economic crisis that has swamped its finances amid the COVID-19 pandemic. 

"This will help stimulate the state's economic recovery from the pandemic while leading the way to the new green economy," Cuomo said. 

Cuomo wants to construct wind turbines in the Capital Region, creating 500 jobs. That equipment in turn would be used to build off-shore wind farms. All told, Cuomo expects the effort will create 17,000 jobs in New York and generate $26 billion in investments. 

Cuomo also called for a renewed effort to bring energy from the North Country region to the New York City area — a long-standing and complex problem that has not had a solution for decades.

"Candles cannot power the future," Cuomo said. "Piecemeal or incidental efforts will fail. We need a transformational green energy system."

Cuomo on Tuesday previously announced he wants to investment in performing arts and rely on COVID-19 rapid tests to keep open parts of the economy in the new year as the pandemic continues and the vaccine rollout has lagged. 

On Thursday, Cuomo is expected to unveil his plans for bolstering New York's infrastructure.