On Monday, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) issued its “Master Plan” to develop the state’s offshore wind resources and establish 2,400 MW of offshore wind generation by 2030. The plan is a component of Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Reforming the Energy Vision (REV) strategy to build clean and affordable energy systems across the state in an effort to achieve New York’s Clean Energy Standard with a goal of 50% renewable generation by 2030. The Master Plan will lead to a procurement of at least 800 MW of offshore wind over the next two years, with solicitations in 2018 and 2019.
Since 2016, NYSERDA undertook 20 different studies gathering data on environmental, social, economic, regulatory and infrastructure issues in order to develop an offshore wind industry. The Master Plan is the result of those studies, and identifies the state’s comprehensive goals moving forward.
The Master Plan includes analysis of seven different procurement options, and including utility-owned generation with developers designing, building and operating offshore wind facilities and ultimately transferring ownership to a utility or utilities.
NYSERDA will also invest $15 million in clean energy workforce development and infrastructure advancement. For more information read the entire report here.