NY Gov. Declares $280 Million Incentives for Energy Storage Projects

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has unveiled a plan to provide $280 million of support for energy storage projects. This funding, announced during Earth Week, is part of a $400 million investment to achieve New York’s energy storage deployment target of 3,000 MW by 2030, and supports Governor Cuomo’s Green New Deal, a clean energy and jobs agenda that puts New York State on a path to 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,” Governor Cuomo said.

The $280 million comes from utility bill surcharges that had been collected but not yet allocated.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo made energy storage a key pillar of his strategy to secure 100 percent carbon-free electricity by 2040. In theory, Energy storage will enhance the efficiency of the electric grid by capturing excess power from wind and solar energy sources and storing that excess power in industrial-sized batteries for later use. Importantly, energy storage will enable utilities to meet periods of peak demand.

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 1,500-MW target of energy storage by 2025, supporting a self-sustaining market for the State. Funding is available in two categories:

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• $150 million for bulk storage projects: systems over five megawatts that primarily provide wholesale market energy or distribution services
• $130 million for retail storage projects: customer-sited systems below five megawatts, 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. The retail money will be disbursed in blocks, with the incentive decreasing as deployments progress. Retail developers who get in on the first batch of 100 megawatt-hours will receive $350 per kilowatt-hour, but successive projects take less funding.

Bulk incentives decline annually, starting at $110 per kilowatt-hour for systems 20 megawatts or less and $85 per kilowatt-hour for systems larger than 20 megawatts. The Retail Energy Storage Incentive Program is divided into two regions: New York City and the rest of the state, excluding Long Island.

In addition to the $280 million made available, another $70 million will be allocated by NYSERDA in the future based on opportunities that have the greatest potential to support a self-sustaining storage market. An additional $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.