RFI alert: Solar and storage opportunities in New York

The New York Power Authority (NYPA) issued a Request for Information (RFI) to assess potential interest and opportunities for collaboration with renewable developers, contractors and companies on projects including solar energy, wind and battery energy storage.

The RFI seeks information related to joint development opportunities in support of New York State’s aggressive energy goals, and it seeks to advance takeaways identified in the Power Authority’s recently published Conferral Report.

New York State’s nation-leading energy goals has set it on a path to achieving a zero-emission electricity sector by 2040, including 70% renewable energy generation by 2030, and economywide carbon neutrality by mid-century. In 2019, New York enacted the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (Climate Act), which established objectives and requirements aimed at addressing climate change and guiding the State toward a clean energy-based economy.

With solar as a strong part of the clean energy mix, the State created a framework to achieve at least 10 GW of distributed solar by 2030, enough to annually power nearly 700,000 average-sized homes. That framework provides a strategy to expand the state’s already successful NY-Sun initiative into one of the largest and most inclusive solar programs of its kind in the nation.

“The results of this RFI will inform the Power Authority’s next steps, advancing a cohesive and efficient transition to a clean energy economy for New York State that will benefit all New Yorkers,” said NYPA President and CEO Justin E. Driscoll.

NYPA is looking for feedback and is particularly interested in responses from private sector renewable developers, contractors, and companies. Responses should be sent to NYPARenewables@nypa.gov by February 7.

The Power Authority, which is the largest state public power organization in the nation, constructed the state’s largest hydroelectric power plants in Niagara and Massena in the 1950s and 60s, setting it on a path toward clean energy. The 2023-24 Enacted State Budget gave NYPA more authority to develop, own and operate renewable energy generating projects. NYPA currently operates 16 generating facilities and more than 1,400 circuit-miles of transmission lines, more than 80% of the electricity it produces coming from hydropower.

To support the transition to clean energy, New York has invested more than $50 billion in 66 large-scale renewable and transmission projects across the state, $6.8 billion to reduce building emissions, $3.3 billion to scale up solar, more than $1 billion for clean transportation initiatives, and over $2 billion in NY Green Bank commitments. These and other investments are supporting more than 170,000 jobs in New York’s clean energy sector in 2022 and over 3,000% growth in the distributed solar sector since 2011.