DURING EARTH WEEK, GOVERNOR CUOMO ANNOUNCES $280 MILLION AVAILABLE FOR ENERGY STORAGE PROJECTS TO CO
Funding is Part of $400 Million Commitment to Achieve New York's Nation-Leading 3,000-Megawatt Storage Target Supports Governor Cuomo's Green New Deal - a Clean Energy and Jobs Agenda Putting New York on a Path to Carbon Neutrality
Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced that $280 million of support is available for energy storage projects to accelerate growth within the industry and drive down energy storage deployment costs to build a sustainable and affordable market. This funding, announced during Earth Week, is part of a $400 million investment to achieve New York's nation-leading energy storage deployment target of 3,000 megawatts by 2030, and supports Governor Cuomo's Green New Deal, a clean energy and jobs agenda that puts New York State on a path to a carbon-neutral economy. "While the federal administration denies the devastating reality of climate change, New York continues to invest in its future by building a more efficient clean energy system," Governor Cuomo said. "Energy storage is vital to our resiliency work and this funding will enable us to grow the industry and create jobs while we continue on our path toward meeting the country's largest energy storage target." "We're investing in projects and programs to advance our aggressive energy goals across the state," said Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul. "This funding continues our efforts to support clean energy and energy storage projects, growing the industry and creating good jobs. New York is leading the nation to ensure a cleaner and greener environment for future generations and working to combat climate change." Energy storage enhances the efficiency of the electric grid by capturing excess power from wind and solar energy sources and storing that excess power in industrial-sized batteries for later use. Importantly, energy storage will enable these resources to meet periods of peak demand. The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority's (NYSERDA) Market Acceleration Bridge Incentive Program will help incentivize approximately two-thirds of the State's 1,500-megawatt target of energy storage by 2025, supporting a self-sustaining market for the State. Funding is available in two categories:
$150 million for bulk storage projects: systems over five megawatts that primarily provide wholesale market energy or distribution services
$130 million for retail storage projects: customer-sited systems below five megawatts, which are smaller and installed alone or paired with onsite generation such as solar
Support for retail storage projects will be distributed through the Retail Energy Storage Incentive Program, a megawatt hour block system, which is similar in design to the State's successful NY-Sun Megawatt Block program. The Retail Energy Storage Incentive Program is divided into two regions: New York City and the rest of the state, excluding Long Island. Incentive amounts are assigned to each region and then decrease over time based on market activity by sector and region. Incentives are offered on a first come, first served basis and are calculated on the usable installed energy storage capacity in kilowatt hours. Incentives remain available until all blocks within a region/sector are fully subscribed. Bulk storage projects have two options to receive incentive funding: A fixed incentive amount, which will decline each year through 2025, or through a utility bulk storage RFP, which will be issued later this year. Projects may only receive funding in one incentive category. In addition to the $280 million available today, another $70 million will be allocated by NYSERDA in the future based on opportunities that have the greatest potential to support a self-sustaining storage market. An additional $53 million in Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative funds will be made available later this year for retail and bulk storage projects specifically located on Long Island. NYSERDA will host a webinar on May 2nd for those interested in the bulk incentives and a second webinar on May 3rd for those interested in the retail incentives.
According to a recent report by the American Jobs Project, New York is home to nearly 100 energy storage companies with expertise in hardware manufacturing, advanced materials, software development and project management, and ranks fifth in the nation for energy storage patents due to the depth of research across its universities, national lab and businesses. The report found that 3,450 people were employed in the energy storage industry in New York, generating nearly $1 billion in annual revenue.
Today's announcement is the latest in a series of actions Governor Cuomo has taken to accelerate the energy storage sector in New York State. Last June, the Governor released New York's Energy Storage Roadmap, which identified recommendations to enable New York to meet its target of 1,500 megawatts of energy storage deployed by 2025 and reap the benefits from this valuable solution. In December, Governor Cuomo announced a secondary target of 3,000 megawatts by 2030, the largest in the country, which will deliver more than $4 billion in gross benefits to New Yorkers and avoid two million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions. In December, the Public Service Commission issued its Order Establishing Energy Storage Goal and Deployment Policy, which adopted both of these targets and approved the use of the incentive funds.
In addition, to further stimulate energy storage deployment across the state and spur private sector investment, the New York Power Authority issued a Request for Information to identify battery storage companies interested in participating jointly in competitive solicitations or other energy storage development opportunities within New York State. The RFI is open to energy storage developers, battery integrators, or others, utilizing lithium-ion battery technology in utility-scale applications. To access the RFI, visit NYPA's procurement webpage under the name Q19-6681MH Energy Storage Joint Opportunities. Responses are due May 13.
Governor Cuomo also recently announced an Innovation Challenge partnership with New York University Tandon School of Engineering's Urban Future Lab to support advanced pilot programs demonstrating new energy storage and electric vehicle technologies and business models. NYSERDA has also made $22 million available from the Clean Energy Fund for both energy storage projects already commercially available and technologies that have not yet been commercialized but could support renewable power sources in New York.