New York Announces Eighth Round of Renewable Energy Solicitation

New York Governor Kathy Hochul has launched the eighth annual round of solicitation for large-scale renewable energy projects in the state. Expanding on New York’s 10-Point Action Plan, the new projects will advance the state’s goal of generating 70 percent of its electricity from renewables by 2030. The solicitations will be managed by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority.

Released last October, the 10-Point Action Plan is intended to expand and support the growing large-scale renewable energy industry in New York, outlining a comprehensive set of actions designed to lay the foundation for a sustainable future. The plan includes investments in transmission infrastructure including $4.1 billion in transmission upgrades to integrate offshore wind and increase reliability for Long Island and New York City and collaboration with other states and federal agencies on interregional transmission to reduce costs.

The objective of the solicitation is to obtain Tier 1 eligible renewable energy certificates from eligible facilities that started commercial operation between Jan. 1, 2015 and Nov. 30, 2026, unless extended to Nov. 30, 2029. The solicitation involves a two-step process for submitting proposals for the land-based renewable energy projects. The authority will use a two-step process to implement the solicitation. The first qualifying step requires the proposer to provide evidence that the proposed facility is eligible for Tier 1. Eligibility applications are due by July 15.  In the next step, the authority will examine whether bid proposals meet minimum threshold requirements and then perform a competitive evaluation for those that meet the criteria.

The deadline for final bid proposals is August 8, 2024.

In this solicitation, NYSERDA has included key provisions from recent renewable energy procurements, such as inflation indexing, labor provisions, stakeholder engagement, climate resiliency in project design, commitments to disadvantaged communities, agricultural land preservation, and related priorities in order to maintain policy objectives and ensure an equitable energy transition. New York state has stated in its climate agenda that at least 35 percent of the benefits of clean energy investments should go to disadvantaged communities.

The proposals that pass the second stage are set to receive conditional award notifications by September 2024.

New York has made significant investments in clean energy including over $28 billion in 61 large-scale renewable and transmission projects across, $6.8 billion to lower building emissions, $3.3 billion to scale up solar, and nearly $3 billion for clean transportation programs.