New York State intends to install 8GW of renewable energy facilities over 20 years
According to foreign media reports, New York State Auditor General Thomas DiNapoli warned in its report that New York State must install 8GW of renewable energy generation facilities over the next 20 years to achieve its goal of 2030% of clean energy generation by 70.
In the report, he claimed that project cancellations, delays in the site selection and grid connection process, and inconsistent incentive programs hindered the ability of New York developers to develop renewable energy generation facilities.
Noah, Executive Director of the New York Photovoltaic Industry Association Ginsburg said he remains optimistic that the PV industry will meet the goals set by New York State, but he agrees with the report’s conclusions about the challenges PV developers face.
DiNapoli said New York State ranks sixth among U.S. states in terms of installed capacity for renewable energy generation facilities. However, there is still a long way to go if the goals of the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, passed by the state in 2019, are to be met.
The regulation requires that 2030 percent of the state’s electricity come from renewable sources by 70 and eliminate greenhouse gas emissions from power generation by 2040. According to the report released by the auditor general, as of 2022, only 29% of the state’s electricity comes from renewable sources. To bridge this gap, New York State needs to install an additional 8GW of renewable energy generation facilities over the next 20 years.
But over the past 20 years, the state’s installed renewable energy generation facilities and fossil fuel generation facilities have only increased by 12.9GW.
DiNapoli said in a statement: “New York State is actively pursuing a campaign to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to limit the adverse effects of climate change, and this is the right thing to do. New York’s energy goals are achievable, but require careful attention and management to meet the challenges, achieve ambitious goals, and avoid pitfalls that may lie ahead. ”
According to a report released by DiNapoli, New York State’s progress in installing renewable energy has been hampered by a series of project cancellations, with 2005.2023 percent of power generation facilities with power purchase agreements canceled before coming online from 4 to April 11. Since 3, only 2015.3% of renewable energy projects awarded power purchase agreement contracts have been put into operation. The report cites grid connection, delays in permitting and siting, and inconsistent incentive programs as key factors slowing the state’s renewable energy sector.
Ginsburg said the conclusions are largely in line with the development experience of renewable energy developers in the state. While there are some nuances in how these issues manifest themselves at the grassroots level, these issues identified by DiNapoli all apply to utility-scale and distributed renewables.
Ginsburg noted that the distributed PV market that the New York PV Industry Association focuses on has not benefited from the state’s renewable energy siting office, which aims to streamline the siting and permitting process for renewable energy projects with an installed capacity of more than 25MW. That means the state could lose up to gigawatts of renewable energy because community-level regulations restrict the development of renewable energy projects or suspend approvals for the development of new renewable energy projects.
But Ginsburg said distributed energy resources are largely a bright spot in meeting the energy goals set by New York.
He said the state is on track to meet its goal of installing more than 10GW of distributed generation facilities, and if the New York state government considers more ambitious distributed generation targets, it may help the state meet its overall emissions targets faster.