NY state seeking large-scale renewable energy projects

New York state is launching a competitive program to implement large-scale projects to produce electricity from renewable sources. Gov. Kathy Hochul today announced the program, which is designed to support the goal of having the state obtain 70% of its electricity from renewable sources by the year 2030.

The state is soliciting proposals for the development of new large-scale land-based renewable energy projects. The competitive solicitation, administered by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), is the latest in a planned series of procurements of land-based large-scale renewable projects.

“New York is building a clean energy economy that will allow us to drastically lower emissions while creating thousands of new good-paying jobs, boosting billions of dollars in economic growth, and spurring an injection of private investment into our local communities,”  Hochul said. “Once selected, these projects will help accelerate our mission to power our state with affordable, reliable, zero-emission electricity for the benefit of all New Yorkers.”

Promoters of possible projects have to first apply by July 15 to see if their projects are eligible and, if they are, submit final proposals by Aug. 8. NYSERDA would be expected to notify promoters of the projects that will go ahead sometime in September.

State Sen. Peter Harckham, whose district includes part of Westchester, said, “It is important to note that a kilowatt of clean energy is now cheaper to produce than a kilowatt of carbon-based energy. With these large-scale renewable energy projects, we are addressing climate change, saving ratepayers money and creating new green jobs.”