The New York Power Authority (NYPA) is seeking expressions of interest (RFI) from companies that want to develop energy storage projects. Separately, another state agency, New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) took its first step this week in a $400 million program that aims to grow an energy storage market in the state.
Designed to help NYPA gauge private sector interest and determine what energy storage opportunities to pursue, the RFI is open to energy storage developers, battery integrators, and others deploying lithium-ion batteries in utility scale applications. It’s available on the NYPA procurement webpage under the name Q19-6681MH Energy Storage Joint Opportunities. Responses are due by May 13.
Meanwhile, on Thursday, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and NYSERDA announced that the state is making $280 million available to accelerate the growth of energy storage projects. The funding opportunity is part of $400 million investment by the state to achieve its goal of 3,000 MW of energy storage by 2030.
New York is aggressively pursuing energy storage as Cuomo rolls out the state’s Green New Deal to achieve 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,” Cuomo said in a statement.
NY most ambitious state for energy storage
Several states have instituted energy storage targets, but New York’s is the most ambitious to date. California has a 1,300 MW by 2020 target. New Jersey has a 2,000 MW by 2030 target. Massachusetts has a 200 MWh target but is considering raising it to 2,000 MW by 2025.
New York is looking to use energy storage to enhance the efficiency of its electric grid by capturing excess wind and solar power and storing it for later use to meet peak demand.
The $280 million funding opportunity is divided into two categories: $150 million is for bulk storage projects, that is, systems over 5 MW that primarily provide wholesale market energy or distribution services, and $130 million is for retail storage projects, customer sited systems below 5 MW that are installed alone or paired with onsite generation such as solar power arrays.
Support for the retail storage projects is being distributed through the Retail Energy Storage Incentive Program, a megawatt hour block system similar in design to the state’s 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 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 for incentive funding: a fixed incentive amount, that declines each year through 2025, or a utility bulk storage request for proposals scheduled to be issued later this year. Projects may only receive funding in one incentive category.
Additional funds coming
In addition to the $280 million, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) is preparing to allocate another $70 million for projects that have the greatest potential to support a self-sustaining storage market. And an additional $53 million in Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative funds will be made available later this year for retail and bulk storage projects located on Long Island.
NYSERDA will host a webinar on May 2 for parties interested in the bulk incentives and a webinar on May 3 for those interested in the retail incentives.
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