New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo has issued a solicitation seeking 800MW or more of new offshore wind projects for the state.
The offering, issued by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), is an an initial step towards the government’s goal of 2,400MW of offshore wind by 2030. Cuomo has set a mandate for 50 percent of the state’s electricity to come from renewable sources by 2030.
Offshore wind is expected to bring an estimated $6 billion of investments to New York that will support approximately 5,000 new jobs in manufacturing, installation and operation of offshore wind facilities and nearly 2,000 jobs in long-term operations and maintenance. The NYSERDA solicitation includes first-of-a-kind requirements for wage and labor agreements by offshore wind developers to ensure that the projects deliver high-quality jobs for New York workers.
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Under the solicitation, NYSERDA has the ability to award 25-year long-term contracts for projects ranging from approximately 200MW to approximately 800MW, with an ability to award larger quantities if sufficiently attractive proposals are received. Each proposer is required to submit at least one proposal of approximately 400MW. Bids are due in February 2019 and awards are expected in Spring of 2019.
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In June, NYSERDA was awarded $18.5 million in funding by the U.S. Department of Energy to lead a nationwide Research and Development Consortium to advance offshore wind nationally. Industry, academia, and national laboratories will support Consortium initiatives to reduce cost and risk of offshore wind development projects throughout the U.S. while supporting U.S.-based manufacturing and the offshore wind supply chain.