While the announcement of combined solicitations for 4,000 MW of offshore wind (NYSERDA) and land based renewables (NYSERDA & NYPA) on July 21, 2020 was historic, this is the continuation of a ramp up in renewables procurement in New York State and indicative of what is required for the state to meet its goals established in the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act.[1] In the last three years, 2017-2019, NYSERDA has contracted about 6,000 MW of large scale renewables. The state’s procurement will not stop in 2020. NYS will continue to be an attractive market for clean energy development offering opportunities for long term contracts.
Additional contracting opportunities to NYSERDA’s centrally administered solicitations (noted in Figure 1) include procurements by the New York Power Authority, Long Island Power Authority and institutional buyers such as the New York Higher Education LSRE. To contextualize this recent procurement and where the state is heading on its path to achieving 70% renewables by 2030 and 100% carbon-free electricity by 2040, Power Advisory offers the following summary timeline highlighting NYS’s climate and energy policies; solicitations and awards; as well as related clean energy announcements from recent years.
At least 25% of the projected 2030 system supply mix has yet to be contracted by NYSERDA. This equates to about 40,000 GWh or 11.5 GW of land-based renewables and 4.1 GW of offshore wind to be contracted.[1] These requirements could be even greater if there is higher than expected load growth with strategic electrification (estimates based on NYSERDA’s 2030 load estimate of 151,678 GWh), attrition of contracted projects, and retirement of baseline and off-contract resources (which produce about 39,000 GWh annually).
Carson Robers, Senior Consultant; John Dalton, President; and Ami Khalsa, Consultant
[1] NYSERDA, “Governor Cuomo Announces Largest Combined Solicitations for Renewable Energy Ever Issued in the U.S.to Combat Climate Change,”
July 21, 2020