New York Approves 22 Large-Scale Solar, Solar + Battery Projects

By Christian Roselund

New York State has announced the results of its latest solicitation of large-scale solar and energy storage projects, awarding rights to tier-1 renewable energy certificates for 2,408 megawatts of solar and 159 megawatts of energy storage. Of the 22 separate winning projects, Boralex Energy will develop five totaling 540 megawatts of solar and 77 megawatts of battery energy storage, and CS Energy and EDF Renewables will each develop three. Winning bidders of two projects include ConnectGen, East Light, Nexamp, and SunEast.

Six of the projects feature energy storage and in all cases the storage component is much smaller than the solar component; the largest battery is a Boralex project featuring a 77-megawatt battery integrated with a 250-megawatt solar plant. This is very different than in California, the United States’ largest stationary storage market, where the battery component of solar plus storage projects is often the same capacity as the solar portion. The winning projects are spread across the state, with the highest capacity (640 megawatts) in the Western region.

This solicitation by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) is part of the state’s efforts to reach 70% renewable energy in its electricity mix by 2030. This is one of the most ambitious targets in any U.S. state. NYSERDA estimates that there are currently 120 solar, land-based wind, and offshore wind projects under development in the state comprising 14.2 gigawatts of capacity.