New York Announces $280 Million Available for Energy Storage Projects

New York State has made US$280 million available for energy storage projects. The aim is to accelerate growth in the industry and drive down energy storage deployment costs.

Announced during Earth Week, the funding is part of a US$400 million investment to achieve New York’s energy storage deployment target of 3,000 MW by 2030 and supports Governor Andrew M. Cuomo’s Green New Deal, a clean energy and jobs agenda that puts the state on a path to a carbon-neutral economy.

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 1500-MW target of energy storage by 2025, supporting a self-sustaining market for the state. The funding is available in two categories:

• US$150 million for bulk storage projects: systems over 5 MW that primarily provide wholesale market energy or distribution services
• US$130 million for retail storage projects: customer-sited systems below 5 MW, 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 MWh 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 KWh. 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 US$280 million made available, another US$70 million will be allocated by the NYSERDA in future, based on opportunities that have the greatest potential to support a self-sustaining storage market. An additional US$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. The 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. The report found that 3450 people were employed in the energy storage industry in New York, generating nearly US$1 billion in annual revenue.

Last June, the Governor released New York’s Energy Storage Roadmap, which identified recommendations to enable New York to meet its target of 1500 MW of energy storage deployed by 2025. In December, Governor Cuomo announced a secondary target of 3,000 MW by 2030, the largest in the country, which will deliver more than US$4 billion in gross benefits to New Yorkers and avoid 2 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emission. In December, the Public Service Commission issued its Order Establishing Energy Storage Goal and Deployment Policy, which adopted both these targets and approved the use of the incentive funds.

To further stimulate energy storage deployment and spur private sector investment, the New York Power Authority issued a Request for Information (RFI) to identify battery storage companies interested in participating jointly in competitive solicitations or other energy storage development opportunities within the state. The RFI is open to energy storage developers, battery integrators, and 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.

The NYSERDA has also made US$22 million available from the Clean Energy Fund for energy storage projects already commercially available and also technologies that have not yet been commercialized but could support renewable power sources in New York.

New York State’s Green New Deal

The Green New Deal mandates that New York’s power be 100% clean and carbon-free by 2040, one of the most aggressive goals in the United States. The cornerstone of this newly proposed mandate is a significant increase of New York’s successful Clean Energy Standard to 70% renewable electricity by 2030. New York has already invested US$2.9 billion into 46 large-scale renewable projects across the state as it increases its clean energy targets. These targets include quadrupling New York’s offshore wind target to a nation-leading 9,000 MW by 2035; doubling distributed solar deployment to 6,000 MW by 2025; and deploying 3,000 MW of energy storage by 2030. To support this ambitious work, NY Green Bank intends to raise over US$1 billion in third-party funds to expand climate financing availability across New York and the rest of North America.

To learn more about the Green New Deal and REV, visit rev.ny.gov.