Updating New York Elected Officials on Clean Energy Progress: Construction Report
As a result of New York’s ambitious goals to address the climate crisis and build a carbon-free energy economy, renewable energy construction is spreading across the landscape. Since 2017, New York has awarded some 137 long-term contracts for grid-scale wind, solar and offshore wind projects. Four major transmission line projects, one offshore wind project and about 18 grid-scale wind and solar projects are currently under construction. The state has also made great progress on the distributed/customer-sited side; New York has the most community solar projects of any state in the country, and we have reached 4,000 megawatts of installed community, rooftop, and other small-scale solar projects. However, that rate of construction will need to accelerate to meet renewable electricity generation objectives required by the recently released Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA) Action Council’s Climate Action Plan.
Reporting on the current rate of construction in relation to the Plan, the Alliance for Clean Energy New York (ACE NY) and the Laborer’s Union PAC (LiUNA) co-hosted a breakfast at the New York State Capitol complex in early March for state lawmakers and staff. In her opening presentation, ACE NY Executive Director Anne Reynolds framed her review in the context of New York’s leading climate goals. She documented the state’s current sources of electricity, described the difference between the upstate and metropolitan area grids, and quantified the amount of renewable energy construction that will be required to meet the CLCPA mandates. A focus of her presentation included a review of transmission projects needed and underway, especially related moving renewable energy generated upstate to the New York City and downstate suburban market, and an exploration of the steps necessary to construct New York’s clean energy grid.
Reynolds posited that New York has transmission bottlenecks that are slowing renewable project development. While there has been some progress (the Public Service Commission (PSC) completed an Initial Grid Study and utilities have proposed a new Coordinated Grid Planning Process to prepare New York’s grid for the clean energy transition), Reynolds explained how more actions need to be taken to get transmission upgrades underway.
According to NYSERDA, the authorized projects to date under Tier 1 of the Clean Energy Standard, which includes grid-scale solar and land-based wind projects; plus the two Tier 4 transmission projects awarded contracts under the NYC Renewables Program; plus the five offshore wind projects, if built, would allow the state to reach 66% renewable electricity in 2030. Under the Clean Energy Standard, NYSERDA is authorized to contract for ~4,700 MW more of offshore wind and 5 more years of Tier 1 RFPs (~110 more wind and solar projects). The Tier 1 procurement schedule accounts for 20% project attrition.
Reynolds’ presentation also looked at issues related to the siting of solar on agricultural land. Of the 137 Tier 1 projects awarded by NYSERDA, about three-quarters are solar. With interest spiking in dual-use solar and agrivoltaics as strategies to develop renewable energy, protect prime soils, and aid farm families, she cited the work of two formal state working groups and quantified the amount of farmland that may be needed to achieve CLCPA goals. The Agricultural Technical and the Farmland Protection working groups involve state agencies, farmers, agricultural organizations like the Farm Bureau and American Farmland Trust, renewables developers and other stakeholders.
“Collaboration between the renewable energy industry and the farming community can simultaneously advance state climate goals and preserve New York’s vital agricultural sector,” Reynolds said. Co-locating solar panels on farmland can boost farm income and improve soil health, increase biodiversity protection, create construction jobs, and bolster the local economy. “Renewables are always built on land owned by willing landowners,” Reynolds added.
The ACE NY Legislative Breakfast is an annual event designed to provide information to legislators and their staff on various aspects of the clean energy transition in New York state. More than 20 elected officials attended the briefing.
