New York Regulator Approves 500 Megawatts of Renewable Generation Projects, Major Upstate Power Line

The New York Public Service Commission on Aug. 11 approved compliance filings for five major wind and solar farms in upstate New York. The move allows 517 megawatts worth of renewable energy projects to move forward. These actions are necessary for the projects to begin construction or become operational.

In a separate press release, the commission announced the approval of the reconstruction of a 100-mile transmission line in the North Country. The project, known as Smart Path Connect, will improve reliability across the entire state by upgrading the transmission network. The project is expected to remove existing restrictions and provide congestion cost savings of over $447 million.

The compliance filings relate to operations and maintenance, sound and noise modeling, tree clearing, and grading construction activities, among others. Projects covered by the compliance filings include:

• Baron Winds: The 242-megawatt project compliance filings include the construction of the operation and maintenance facility and security lighting at the facility’s operations and maintenance building site.
• East Point: The 50-megawatt solar farm compliance filings will allow the developer to start construction of the collection switchyard, substation, and associated interconnection facilities.
• Hecate Albany: The 40-megawatt solar farm compliance filings relate to the sound and noise modeling necessary to initiate construction at the project substations and interconnection facility.
• Trelina: The 80-megawatt solar farm compliance filings allow the developer to begin tree clearing and grading construction activities
• Number Three Wind: The 105.8-megawatt wind farm compliance filings relate to exterior lighting requirements and constructing and operating a utility-scale wind farm.

These five renewable energy projects are among 17 approved by the Board on Electric Generation Siting and the Environment. A total of 2,310 megawatts of clean, renewable energy will be generated by the solar and wind farm projects approved.

According to the 2019 Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, the state aims to achieve zero emissions in the electricity sector by 2040, including 70 percent renewable energy by 2030, and become carbon neutral economy-wide by 2040. Also, the state plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 85 percent from 1990 levels by 2050.

The state has invested $35 billion in 120 large-scale renewable energy and transmission projects, $6.8 billion in building emissions reduction, $1.8 billion in solar scale-up projects, over $1 billion in clean transportation initiatives, and more than $1.6 billion in NY Green Bank commitments. Together, these investments are supporting almost 158,000 jobs in the clean energy sector in New York in 2020, a 21 times growth in the distributed solar sector since 2011, and a commitment to developing 9 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2035.