New York State Governor Andrew M. Cuomo unveiled the details March 13 of the awards for 21 large-scale solar, wind, and energy storage projects across upstate New York, totaling 1,278 megawatts of new renewable capacity.
The awards are the third in a series of annual New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) land-based renewable procurements that are expected to result in the development of “dozens” of large-scale renewable energy projects over the coming decade. Several of the projects awarded are expected to break ground as soon as late 2020 and all projects are expected to be operational by 2024. NYSERDA payments under these awards will not commence until projects have obtained all required permits and local approvals, and begun commercial operation.
The competitively selected projects include 17 large-scale solar projects, in addition to four utility-scale wind projects, comprising three redevelopment upgrades to existing wind projects and one new large-scale wind project. Two solar projects will include energy storage to enhance integration of renewable energy resources into the electric grid, and which will support the State's relatively visible goal of installing 3,000 megawatts of energy storage by 2030.
The weighted average award price for the solicitation is $18.59 per megawatt hour of production over the 20-year term of the awarded contracts, the lowest average award price resulting from a NYSERDA large-scale renewables solicitation in over a decade.
NYSERDA plans to issue the next solicitation for large-scale renewable energy under the Clean Energy Standard by Earth Day, 2020.