New York State Governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced April 25 that US$280 million of support is available for energy storage projects to accelerate growth within the industry and drive down energy storage deployment costs, “to build a sustainable and affordable market.”
The funding, announced during Earth Week, is part of a $400 million investment to achieve New York’s energy storage deployment target of 3,000 megawatts by 2030, and supports Governor Cuomo’s “Green New Deal.”
The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority’s (NYSERDA) Market Acceleration Bridge Incentive Program will help incentivize approximately two-thirds of the State’s 1,500-megawatt target of energy storage by 2025, supporting a self-sustaining market for the State. Funding is available in two categories:
• $150 million for bulk storage projects: systems over five megawatts that primarily provide wholesale market energy or distribution services
• $130 million for retail storage projects: customer-sited systems below five megawatts, which are smaller and installed alone or paired with onsite generation such as solar.
Support for retail storage projects will be distributed through the Retail Energy Storage Incentive Program, a megawatt-hour block system, which is similar in design to the State’s successful NY-Sun Megawatt Block program. The Retail Energy Storage Incentive Program is divided into two regions: New York City and the rest of the state, excluding Long Island. Incentive amounts are assigned to each region and then decrease over time based on market activity by sector and region. Incentives are offered on a first come, first served basis and are calculated on the usable installed energy storage capacity in kilowatt hours. Incentives remain available until all blocks within a region/sector are fully subscribed.
Bulk storage projects have two options to receive incentive funding: a fixed incentive amount, which will decline each year through 2025, or through a utility bulk storage RFP, which will be issued later this year.
In addition to the $280 million immediately available, another $70 million will be allocated by NYSERDA in the future based on opportunities that have the greatest potential to support a self-sustaining storage market.
An additional $53 million in Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative funds will be made available later this year for retail and bulk storage projects specifically located on Long Island.
The New York Power Authority has also issued a Request for Information to identify battery storage companies interested in participating jointly in competitive solicitations or other energy storage development opportunities within New York State. The RFI is open to energy storage developers, battery integrators, or others, utilizing lithium-ion battery technology in utility-scale applications.
In a related development, New York’s Con Edison announced May 3 that it is offering residential customers a device that will make it easier and cheaper for customers to power their homes with solar energy and connect electric vehicle chargers.
For residential customers who install solar panels or vehicle chargers, Con Edison will provide, free of charge, a device that avoids the cost of upgrading the home’s circuit breaker panel. The device, called ConnectDER, is mounted to the electric meter and connected to both the meter and to the solar panels or vehicle charger. Data from the solar panels or vehicle charger are then fed back to Con Edison. The device provides Con Edison with information on the power generated by the panels or consumed by electric vehicles charged at the home. The company can use that information to plan investments in its system and run the electric grid more efficiently.
Avoiding an upgrade to the home’s circuit breaker panel can save a customer up to $2,500, ConEd says.