New York Power Authority plans massive solar PV increase

• 13 years ago (2010-05-11)
• David Flin

North America 996 Renewables 751

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The New York Power Authority has begun reviewing bids for developing as much as 100 MW of solar PV capacity over the next four years, about five times the amount currently installed in the US state. The agency, a state-owned utility, has received 43 bids for solar projects after issuing a request for proposals in January.

Solar PV arrays will be installed at schools, public universities and colleges, state and local government facilities, and municipal and rural electric cooperative systems. In addition to the Buffalo-Niagra region and 11 other counties in Western New York, the identified regions for hosting the solar generating systems are Northern New York, Central New York, Southeastern New York and New York City.

Richard Kessel, President of the NYPA, said: “The overwhelming response that we received from the solar power industry puts this project on a solid footing, with the initial solar installations expected to begin later this year. The project will make a significant contribution toward Gov. Paterson’s goal for 45 per cent of the state’s electricity needs to be met by improved energy efficiency and clean renewable energy by 2015.”

The authority expects to make preliminary selections of project contractors by this summer, with the decisions to be based on price and other factors. This includes bidders’ demonstrated records of developing, owning and operating solar power generating systems, and their plans for identifying and arranging for the use of host sites in the location categories specified by the authority for the solar installations.

The PV systems will be owned and operated by the developers, with the power authority buying the generated output under 20-year power purchase agreements. The authority will also enter into contracts with the project hosts for the sale of electricity from the systems. The generating capacity of the site installations is expected to vary from 100 kW to 5MW. They are to be built over the next four years.