$250 Million for Renewable Energy Projects in N.Y.
ALBANY, NY — About $250 million is available in New York for renewable energy generation projects that reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions and contribute to a clean-energy economy, announced the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority and the Public Service Commission.
The program is funded by the state’s Renewable Portfolio Standard and will be awarded competitively through a solicitation for electric generation projects using wind, hydroelectric, biomass or other clean-energy resources, according to a release from the state agency.
The awards are expected to be announced in April.
Under the Renewable Portfolio Standard program, the agency has awarded funds competitively to 39 large-scale renewable electricity generators expected to produce enough electricity to provide 4.3 million megawatt-hours of renewable energy per year, the agency reports. The projects include three biomass facilities, one landfill biogas operation, 21 hydroelectric upgrades, and 14 wind farms.
“The RPS program has been instrumental in attracting private, green-energy investment here in New York State,” said the agency’s President and CEO, Francis J. Murray, Jr. “By building our clean-energy infrastructure, we will create jobs, improve our environment and strengthen our energy resources.”
The RPS program has allowed New York to take greater control of its energy future, said Public Service Commission chairman Garry Brown.
“This renewable energy program has been a key element for obtaining a more diversified energy portfolio for New York State, as well as helping to create much-needed clean energy jobs,” Brown said. “Moving forward with this solicitation reaffirms the important value we place on the development of the clean energy sector.”
Officials estimate that projects currently in the program will deliver more than $4.5 billion in economic benefits to New York over the next 20 years in the form of short- and long-term jobs, property tax payments, in-state purchases of goods and services, and land lease payments, among others.