New York has awarded 22 large-scale solar projects contracts as part of the state’s largest land-based procurement of renewables to date.
The solar plants will have a combined capacity of more than 2.4GW, and six will be co-located with energy storage, comprising a total of 159MW of capacity, to enhance the integration of renewable energy resources onto the grid.
The installations will spur more than US$2.7 billion in private investment and create over 3,000 short- and long-term jobs across the state, according to the office of New York’s governor, Kathy Hochul.
“These projects will allow us to not just meet but exceed our goal of obtaining 70% of our electricity from renewable resources,” Hochul said.
The largest two projects in the procurement both feature 350MW of solar co-located with 20MW of energy storage. They will be built by affiliates of EDF Renewables.
Among the other companies that were awarded contracts include Cypress Creek Renewables, CS Energy, ReneSola Power and Nexamp.
Payments from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) will begin once the projects have obtained all required permits and approvals and become operational to power New York.
The authority’s CEO, Doreen Harris, said: “NYSERDA is committed to working with the awarded developers, local host governments and community stakeholders throughout the project development process to responsibly site projects, including the protection of prime agricultural land, and ensure that they cross the finish line on time.”
The developers have committed nearly US$86 million in investments in disadvantaged communities throughout New York, including community-based investments such as apprenticeships and scholarships.
The newly awarded projects mean New York’s pipeline of large-scale renewable energy plants moving towards operation includes more than 120 solar and wind farms under development that will deliver 14.2GW of power to the grid when completed.
With New York aiming to reach a zero-emission electricity sector by 2040, the state earlier this year approved a new framework to achieve 10GW of distributed solar by 2030 as its NY-Sun solar initiative was expanded.
State authorities also finalised contracts last year for Clean Path NY, an infrastructure project comprising 1.8GW of solar and 2GW of wind capacity that would deliver energy from upstate to New York City.