The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority was authorized Thursday to solicit up to 2,500 MW of offshore wind energy this year — the largest such procurement in the country to date.

The New York Public Service Commission granted NYSERDA’s January petition to solicit “at least” 1,000 MW of offshore wind energy in 2020 and be granted the “flexibility” to evaluate a range of bids for up to 2,500 MW (18-E-0071).

“This is an important step forward to advance the opportunity for New York state’s next offshore wind solicitation,” PSC Chair John B. Rhodes said. “We received important inputs in the recently concluded comment period, and this order properly considers those, as well as the principal aspects of the public interest.”

Environmentalists and labor groups were quick to laud the state’s action.

“The PSC order will help ensure that New York is able to take maximum advantage of expiring federal tax credits, limited offshore lease areas and the developing offshore wind supply chain,” New York Offshore Wind Alliance Director Joe Martens said in a statement.

Gary LaBarbera, president of the Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York, said the decision “paves the way for thousands of good jobs and billions in economic development for New York. We applaud this order and look forward to building New York’s offshore wind industry for years to come.”

Following the commission’s decision, NYSERDA said in a statement that it would not be rushing amid the coronavirus pandemic to put out a request for proposals.

“While NYSERDA fully supports and is poised to execute on this authorization, given the current circumstances, we feel issuing a near-term solicitation would not be responsible nor advisable. … Given the dynamic nature of the situation, NYSERDA is closely monitoring the crisis and stands ready to launch the solicitations when the associated activities can responsibly begin,” the agency said.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo in January announced that NYSERDA would solicit at least 1 GW of offshore wind energy this year. The state last July awarded offshore wind contracts to Equinor’s 816-MW Empire Wind project and to the 880-MW Sunrise Wind, a joint venture of Ørsted and Eversource Energy. (See Cuomo Sets New York’s Green Goals for 2020.)

Among other targets, New York’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (A8429), signed into law last July, nearly quadrupled the state’s offshore wind goals to 9,000 MW by 2030.

Burman Dissents

All five PSC commissioners met via teleconference for its regular monthly session in Albany; only one voted against the offshore wind order.

Commissioner Diane Burman said “that while we are looking to give direction and regulatory certainty to NYSERDA and to those involved in offshore wind, and giving a nod that we are supportive of moving forward in 2020 on an offshore wind solicitation,” she was concerned that the funding of NYSERDA “fails to set conditions on the authorization.”

Burman said that as “stewards of the ratepayer dollars and stewards of the state’s environmental goals,” commissioners “need appropriate information in real time to make those decisions, not in a vacuum; not crossing our fingers and hoping it all works out.”

“We have at times looked at modifying a petition, or asking those petitioners to provide more information,” Burman said. She said it was reasonable to seek “more clarity and information” as “the comments on the petition only came in this week.”

Burman said there are “significant under-the-hood issues. … Commenters repeatedly discuss the transmission study … and yet many times we are left not necessarily having those studies completed in time to inform our decisions.”

“I’m struck by how we’re not demanding real information from NYSERDA,” she said. “I’m not opposed to giving authority, but I am opposed to being kept in the dark from the beginning.”

Burman also noted the concerns raised this week by the Long Island Commercial Fishing Association (LICFA), which as a member of NYSERDA’s Fisheries Technical Working Group (F-TWG) requested an extension of the April 20 deadline to submit comments.

“Though an email was sent on Jan. 30 notifying the F-TWG members of NYSERDA’s petition, no email chain, meeting or webinar was conducted by NYSERDA to discuss the proposal specifically, and as such, none of the fisheries stakeholders from multiple states who fish in the Atlantic from the Mid-Atlantic New York Bight area off of New Jersey to the Southern New England/South of Massachusetts waters have had the opportunity to address or comment as a group on this issue,” LICFA said.

Burman said the order doesn’t properly address the fishermen’s concerns “but says they should not have waited so long, which is not the appropriate approach for a regulator. … We should be seeking how to incorporate their concerns on the front end.”