NY Governor Cuomo Announces Third Solicitation for Large Scale Renewable Energy Projects

"For the third year in a row, New York is continuing to lead by example when it comes to advancing large-scale renewable energy projects that will bring significant economic growth and good-paying jobs to the state," Governor Cuomo said. 

The state is issuing this solicitation as the third in a series of annual procurements under the Clean Energy Standard and is expected to result in the development of dozens of large-scale renewable projects. In the last two years alone, New York has awarded $2.9 billion in contracts to 46 land-based wind and solar projects, creating $7 billion in direct investment in the clean energy sector. These projects will generate over 7.1 million MWh each year - enough renewable energy to power nearly one million homes - with recently awarded bid prices 23 percent lower than those awarded just two years ago.

Senate Environmental Conservation Committee Chair Senator Todd Kaminsky, said, "I commend Governor Cuomo for his continued support of large-scale renewable energy projects that will benefit New Yorkers across the state in the form of climate change mitigation, clean air and green jobs."

Notable provisions in this solicitation include:

• Requiring that workers associated with the construction of any awarded facility be paid the applicable prevailing wage, a standard set by the New York State Department of Labor, ensuring that the projects will result in quality, good-paying jobs for New Yorkers;
• Preserving and protecting New York's valuable agricultural resources by providing bonus points for renewable energy projects that avoid overlap with land of agricultural importance to New York State; and
• Continuing to encourage proposals that cost-effectively pair renewable energy with advanced energy storage technologies to help meet Governor Cuomo's commitments to deploy 1,500 megawatts of energy storage by 2025 and 3,000 megawatts by 2030. 

Vincent Alvarez, President of the New York City Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO, said, "Today's announcement by NYSERDA that all large-scale, land-based renewable energy projects will include prevailing wage language reinforces New York State's commitment to creating family-sustaining careers fighting the climate crisis. We applaud the Cuomo Administration for leading the nation in action on addressing the dual crises of climate change and income inequality."

To learn more about the large-scale renewable solicitation, please visit NYSERDA's website. Initial submissions are due by June 13, 2019.

As part of the ramp-up of renewable energy, New York has already invested $2.9 billion into 46 large-scale renewable projects across the state as it significantly increases its clean energy targets, such as: quadrupling New York's offshore wind target to a nation-leading 9,000 MW by 2035; doubling distributed solar deployment to 6,000 MW by 2025; and deploying 3,000 MW of energy storage by 2030.