What you should know
- The largest renewable energy and transmission projects in New York State in the last 50 years.
- The project will deliver up to $ 7.4 billion in general social benefits statewide, including greenhouse gas reductions and air quality improvements.
- Combined with the state’s deployment of clean energy and offshore wind, the projects are expected to reduce the city’s use of fossil fuels for electricity by more than 80 percent by 2030.
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New York on Tuesday finalized project contracts to deliver clean, renewable solar, wind and hydroelectric power from upstate New York and Canada to New York City. The contract was closed between the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) with Clean Path New York LLC.
The state’s first renewable energy and transmission projects are expected to provide up to $ 7.4 billion in overall social benefits statewide, including greenhouse gas reductions and air quality improvements, and $ 8.2 billion in development. statewide, including investments in disadvantaged communities.
The transmission projects are considered the largest contracted for New York State in the past 50 years and seek to reduce the city’s use of fossil fuels for electricity by more than 80 percent by 2030, when combined with state deployment. clean energy and offshore wind energy.
Tuesday’s announcement accelerates progress toward exceeding New York State’s goal of 70 percent of the state’s electricity coming from renewable sources by 2030, on the way to a zero-emissions grid as outlined in the New York State Act. Climate Leadership and Community Protection. It will also help New York City achieve its ambitious climate goals.
These contracts have been submitted to the PSC for approval and are subject to a public comment period running until February 7, 2022.
The successful acquisition of NYSERDA resulted in the award of projects that bring the highest and best value to New York, including the interests of disadvantaged communities, economic benefits, and workforce development. The key benefits of these projects include:
• Protect New York Families: The projects will deliver up to $ 4 billion in public health benefits as a result of reduced exposure to harmful pollutants, including prevented premature deaths, reduced asthma-related hospital visits, and lost workdays due to illness.
• Massive economic driver and job creator: The projects will create approximately 10,000 family support jobs statewide with $ 8.2 billion in economic development investments, helping to accelerate the state’s economic recovery from COVID-19. The project developers have also committed to current wage and project labor agreements to ensure quality, well-paying jobs for New Yorkers.
• Investments committed by developers in disadvantaged communities: The two projects pledged to invest a total of $ 460 million in community benefit funds to create pathways to green energy jobs, support public health, promote capital improvement projects, perform habitat restoration, and improve the environmental footprint of buildings in disadvantaged communities.
• Environmental Protection: Collectively, the projects are expected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 77 million metric tons over the next 15 years, the equivalent of taking one million cars off the road during this time period.
• Profitable: the program Tier 4 acquires both renewable energy and new transmission. It has been established with a REC index structure to help protect customers against spikes in energy prices, so that when electricity prices go up, Tier 4 costs go down. With an expected average Tier 4 REC cost of $ 28.29 per megawatt hour for both projects, once the projects come online, the average impact on customers’ bill will be about 2 percent, or just over $ 2. per month. The project sponsors’ analysis may be published and presented as part of the PSC procedure to articulate the scope of potential additional benefits.
In addition, these new underground transmission lines will prevent, minimize and mitigate environmental damage, including impacts on sensitive species and habitats, and will be resistant to extreme weather conditions.
If approved, the CPNY and CHPE projects will add to New York’s strong existing large-scale renewable energy portfolio of nearly 100 solar, onshore wind and offshore wind projects totaling 11,000 megawatts of clean energy, sufficient to power more than five million New York Homes when completed. The state’s commitment to building a new green power transmission, led by 250 miles of major new improvements already underway across the state and reinforced by this award, will allow the current renewable energy portfolio to power more than 60 percent. of New York’s electricity from renewable energy once operational.
NYSERDA will continue to provide resources and technical assistance at no cost to help local governments understand how to manage responsible clean energy development in their communities, including step-by-step instructions and tools to guide clean energy implementation, including permitting processes, property taxes, location, zoning and more.
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