The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority has awarded $1.4 billion for 26 new large-scale renewable energy projects resulting from a request for proposals issued in June 2017.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo in June 2017 unveiled details of an initiative under which New York state will make an investment of up to $1.5 billion in major renewable energy projects, including wind and solar, and significantly expand energy efficiency and solar installations at public buildings. The New York Power Authority will play a central role in the initiative.
At the time of the announcement, Cuomo’s office said the investment will result in an additional 2.5 million megawatt-hours of electricity a year, representing the largest clean energy procurement by a state in U.S. history, with procurements by NYPA and NYSERDA.
The renewable energy generation will help to meet Cuomo's Clean Energy Standard goal of 50 percent of the state's electricity sourced from renewables by 2030.
On June 2, 2017, NYSERDA issued a RFP for renewable energy. It was the first solicitation under the Clean Energy Standard. NYPA issued its solicitation for renewables the same month.
NYSERDA RFP results in 26 agreements
Details of the NYSERDA RFP results were unveiled on March 9. The solicitation resulted in 26 agreements to develop 1,383 megawatts of renewable energy capacity throughout the state.
The awarded projects include 22 solar farms, three wind farms and one hydroelectric project.
One of the wind farms features an energy storage component, marking the first time a large-scale renewable energy project has done so in New York State. Several projects will break ground as early as April 2018 and all projects are expected to be operational by 2022.
Cuomo’s office said that during the competitive selection process, bonus points were awarded to renewable energy projects “that demonstrated a commitment to the creation of good local jobs and the use of locally-manufactured components and content.”
The two-step review process also included non-price criteria to evaluate the applications. The criteria included scoring for the developer's experience in constructing and financing renewable projects, the developer's previous project development experience in New York and the projects development status related to grid interconnection, permitting and site control.
Proposals were reviewed and scored by a technical committee of professional independent evaluators.
“The response by 30 developers proposing 88 projects provided NYSERDA with the opportunity to select the best and most cost-effective proposals,” Cuomo’s office said.
The state's $1.4 billion investment is expected to spur over $3 billion of direct investment over the life of the projects, with support for these new projects provided by NYSERDA.
The weighted average award price for this solicitation is $21.71 per megawatt hour of production over the 20-year term of the awarded contracts, which is 11 percent less than the price awarded through the last two prior year's awards.
Details on 26 projects by region
The 26 large-scale renewable energy projects by region are:
Capital Region
- Columbia Solar 1, Columbia County: Hecate Energy will build a 60 MW solar facility in the town of Copake;
- Darby Solar, Washington County: Granada Solar will build a 19.99 MW solar facility in the town of Easton;
- Flint Mine Solar, Greene County: Hudson Energy Enterprises will build a 100 MW solar facility in the town of Coxsackie;
- Greene County Energy Properties, Greene County: Greene County Energy Properties will build a 19.9 MW solar facility in the town of Coxsackie.
- Pattersonville, Schenectady County: Teichos Energy will build a 19.99 MW solar facility in the town of Pattersonville.
Central New York
- Janis Solar, Cortland County: Granada Solar will build a 19.99 MW solar facility in the town of Willet.
- Sky High Solar, Onondaga County: Cypress Creek Renewables will build a 19.99 MW solar facility in the town of Tully.
Finger Lakes
- Java Solar Energy Center, Wyoming County: Invenergy will build a 1.53 MW solar facility in the town of Java.
Mid-Hudson
- Blue Stone Solar, Ulster County: Geronimo Energy will build a 19.99 MW solar facility in the town of Saugerties.
- Daybreak Solar, Ulster County: Geronimo Energy will build a 25 MW solar facility in the town of Shawangunk.
- Little Pond Solar, Orange County: Cypress Creek Renewables will build a 19.99 MW solar facility in the town of Deerpark.
- Magruder Solar, Ulster County: Granada Solar will build a 19.99 MW solar facility in the town of Gardiner.
Mohawk Valley
- Double Lock Solar, Montgomery County: Cypress Creek Renewables will build a 19.99 MW solar facility in the town of Minden.
- East Point Energy Center, Schoharie County: NextEra Energy will build a 50 MW solar facility in the town of Sharon.
- Grissom Solar, Fulton County: Granada Solar will build a 19.99 MW solar facility in the town of Mayfield.
- High River Energy Center, Montgomery County: NextEra Energy will build a 90 MW solar facility in the town of Amsterdam.
- Rock District Solar, Schoharie County: Cypress Creek Renewables will build a 19.99 MW solar facility in the town of Carlisle.
- Sunny Knoll Solar, Schoharie County: Cypress Creek Renewables will build a 19.99 MW solar facility in the town of Schoharie.
- Tayandenega Solar, Montgomery County: Cypress Creek Renewables will build a 19.99 MW solar facility in the town of St. Johnsville.
North Country
- Lyons Falls Mill Redevelopment, Lewis County: Northbrook Lyons Falls will redevelop an existing hydroelectric facility, leading to an increase in new renewable capacity of 3.23 MW.
Southern Tier
- Baron Winds, Steuben County: EverPower Wind Holdings Inc. will build a 272 MW wind farm in the towns of Cohocton, Dansville, Fremont, and Wayland.
- Bluestone Wind, Broome County: Calpine Corporation will build a 121.8 MW wind farm, accompanied by 6.2 MW of energy storage, in the towns of Windsor and Sanford.
- Branscomb Solar, Tioga County: Granada Solar will build a 19.99 MW solar facility in the town of Candor.
- Puckett Solar, Chenango County: Granada Solar will build a 19.99 MW solar facility in the town of Greene.
- Regan Solar, Chenango County: Granada Solar will build a 19.99 MW solar facility in the town of Guilford.
Western New York
- Alle-Catt Wind, Allegany and Cattaraugus County: Invenergy will build a 339.78 MW wind farm in the towns of Arcade, Farmersville, Freedom, Rushford, and Centerville.
NYSERDA to issue next solicitation in April
NYSERDA will issue the next solicitation for large-scale renewable energy under the Clean Energy Standard on April 25, 2018.
This solicitation will include several new provisions to ensure that selected projects continue to deliver maximum value to New York State, Cuomo’s office said.
Among other things, in order to help meet Cuomo's commitment to deploy 1,500 MW of energy storage by 2025, NYSERDA will seek to encourage proposals that cost-effectively pair renewable energy with advanced energy storage technologies.
NYSERDA anticipates making awards in September 2018 and issuing a subsequent solicitation, if needed, in November 2018.
NYPA will announce which developers and customers have been selected from its RFP once contracts are signed, which is expected to be this summer.
