New York awards contracts for 1.38 GW renewable projects

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The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) has awarded contracts for 26 large-scale renewable energy projects to be located across the state, representing US$1.4 billion in investment, the single largest commitment to renewable energy by a state in U.S. history.

The awards include 22 utility-scale 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.

The projects were selected from 88 bids submitted by 30 developers, and evaluated through a rigorous, two-step review 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.

Several projects will break ground as early as April 2018 and all projects are expected to be operational by 2022, adding over 1,380 MW of capacity and generating over 3,200,000 MWh annually. The state's US$1.4 billion investment is expected to stimulate over US$3 billion of direct investment over the life of the projects.

The weighted average award price for this tender is US$21.71 per MWh of production over the 20-year term of the awarded contracts, which is 11% less than the price awarded through the last two prior year's awards.

Collectively, the projects are expected to generate enough clean, renewable energy to power more than 430,000 homes and reduce carbon emissions by more than 1.6 million metric tons, the equivalent to taking nearly 340,000 cars off the road. Also, they will collectively create over 3,000 short- and long-term jobs, advancing the Clean Climate Careers initiative announced by Governor Cuomo in June 2017, which aims to create 40,000 new, well-paid clean energy jobs by 2020. 

Furthermore, these awards represent a significant step in advancing the Governor's Clean Energy Standard to obtain 50% of New York's electricity from renewable energy sources by 2030.

Building on the momentum of these project awards, NYSERDA will issue the next tender for large-scale renewable energy under the Clean Energy Standard on 25 April 2018. NYSERDA anticipates awarding contracts in September 2018 and issuing a subsequent tender, if needed, in November 2018.