Dive Brief:
- The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority on Wednesday selected eight bulk energy storage and 13 large-scale renewable projects to receive financial support, totaling almost 1.7 GW of clean energy resources expected to be online by the end of 2030.
- The state’s first bulk energy storage awards went to 950 MW of lithium batteries ranging from four to eight hours in duration. Renewables awards will go to solar, wind and hydroelectric projects totaling 719 MW of capacity.
- The state has fallen behind its clean energy goals and earlier this year made changes to the greenhouse gas reduction targets laid out in its Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act. “This announcement couldn’t come at a better time,” Amisha Rai, Advanced Energy United’s senior vice president of advocacy, said in a statement.
Dive Insight:
New York pushed back its emissions targets this year, but officials say the state remains committed to clean energy and has not adjusted its procurement goals.
The state’s target of 70% renewable energy by 2030, set when the CLCPA was passed in 2019, is unchanged. New York doubled its storage target in 2022 to have 6 GW of storage online by 2030. NYSERDA plans to issue a second annual bulk energy storage request for proposals by the end of this year and said it intends to select 3 GW of energy storage procurement over its first three solicitations.
The newly contracted large-scale energy projects “not only further the growth of clean energy and more than double the utility-scale energy storage that exists currently statewide – but they contribute to New York’s comprehensive, all of the above energy strategy,” NYSERDA President and CEO Doreen Harris said in a statement.
The selected projects in New York range in size from a 4-hour, 94-MW facility being developed by Key Capture Energy in Ulster County; to a similar 150-MW facility in Suffolk County, also developed by KCE; to the 8-hour, 140-MW Lighthouse Energy Storage project in Chautauqua County, proposed by Grid Connected Infrastructure LLC and Neoen US.
The projects will more than double the utility-scale energy storage that has been awarded, contracted, and installed in New York to date, “making meaningful progress toward 6 gigawatts by 2030,” NYSERDA said.
“Bringing new renewable energy and storage projects online means more homegrown power, more flexibility for the grid, and more investment in communities across the state,” AEU’s Rai said.
The projects announced last week are expected to support 1,000 jobs and generate over $3.7 billion in private investment, NYSERDA said. Payments to the contracted projects will only begin once projects are operational.
