Governor Hochul Announces Third Competitive Opportunity to Support Existing Wind Energy and Hydropower Projects in New York State

Governor Kathy Hochul today announced the third solicitation under the large-scale renewable energy procurement program known as Competitive Tier 2, which is designed to retain New York's existing renewable energy resources. Today's announcement underscores the importance of the State's baseline energy generation as a critical part of the expanded Clean Energy Standard and supports New York's goal to obtain 70 percent of the state's electricity from renewable sources by 2030 on the path to a zero-emission power grid as outlined in the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act.

"New York's comprehensive approach to greening the state's power grid is helping create a thriving and competitive renewable energy market to meet the growing demand for these important resources," Governor Hochul said, "By keeping existing hydropower and wind energy facilities in New York, we are protecting the good-paying operations and maintenance jobs that will ensure these resources continue to produce clean electricity for generations to come."

Through its third Competitive Tier 2 solicitation, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority is seeking proposals to procure Tier 2-eligible Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) from existing privately-owned hydropower and land-based wind generators in New York State that entered commercial operation prior to January 1, 2015. NYSERDA's procurement approach provides the opportunity to increase the amount of locally-produced renewable energy under contract with New York State, while still allowing Community Choice Aggregations to continue to voluntarily negotiate the best price and terms on energy supply, products, and services for their customers. Demand for Tier 2 RECs has grown substantially in recent years as CCAs have expanded and businesses seek clean energy choices as part of their Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) goals, contributing to a thriving market for Tier 2 RECs in New York State.

NYSERDA will evaluate and select the competitive proposals based on the lowest price received. Proposals are due on September 15, 2022, by 3:00 p.m. Interested proposers can apply here. NYSERDA expects to announce the awards in October 2022.

A webinar will be held on August 23, 2022, at 3:30 p.m. to provide interested proposers with an opportunity to learn more about this solicitation. Those interested in the webinar can sign up here, and are encouraged to register and submit questions in advance.

New York State Energy Research and Development Authority President and CEO Doreen M. Harris said, "Under Governor Hochul's leadership, we are using every tool at our disposal to diversify New York's energy mix and ensure all in-state renewable resources are contributing to the build-out of the resilient zero-emission power grid of the future. NYSERDA's Competitive Tier 2 solicitation will attract the market competition needed to deliver affordable renewable energy for New Yorkers while helping to improve local air quality and foster economic growth in host communities."

As part of its Competitive Tier 2 solicitations, NYSERDA will contract with awarded generators for the purchase of Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs). A REC represents the environmental attributes of one megawatt hour of electricity generated from a renewable source. Launched in January 2021, the Competitive Tier 2 program is funded through a Tier 2 REC obligation required of load serving entities (LSEs). New York State's LSEs are required to purchase Tier 2 RECs from NYSERDA each year.

Today's announcement builds on NYSERDA's first two rounds of awards which resulted in three projects to retain enough renewable energy in New York State to power nearly 8,300 homes and help support ongoing operations of these existing New York-based renewable energy facilities. Project-specific details for the three awarded projects are now available on Open NY. This solicitation also complements the State's actions to more quickly advance development of large renewable energy projects, markedly decreasing fossil-fuel generation and harmful emissions in the State.

New York State's Nation-Leading Climate Plan

New York State's nation-leading climate agenda is the most aggressive climate and clean energy initiative in the nation, calling for an orderly and just transition to clean energy that creates jobs and continues fostering a green economy as New York State recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic. Enshrined into law through the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, New York is on a path to achieve its mandated goal of a zero-emission electricity sector by 2040, including 70 percent renewable energy generation by 2030, and to reach economy wide carbon neutrality.

This plan builds on New York's unprecedented investments to ramp-up clean energy including over $35 billion in 120 large-scale renewable and transmission projects across the state, $6.8 billion to reduce buildings emissions, $1.8 billion to scale up solar, more than $1 billion for clean transportation initiatives, and over $1.6 billion in NY Green Bank commitments. Combined, these investments are supporting nearly 158,000 jobs in New York's clean energy sector in 2020, a 2,100 percent growth in the distributed solar sector since 2011 and a commitment to develop 9,000 megawatts of offshore wind by 2035. Under the Climate Act, New York will build on this progress and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 85 percent from 1990 levels by 2050, while ensuring that at least 35 percent with a goal of 40 percent of the benefits of clean energy investments are directed to disadvantaged communities, and advance progress towards the state's 2025 energy efficiency target of reducing on-site energy consumption by 185 trillion BTUs of end-use energy savings.