New York State Governor Andrew M. Cuomo has announced $206 million in awards to four Upstate large-scale clean energy projects. The State believes this will create a more diverse renewable energy portfolio to address energy and environmental challenges. The awardees include two large wind farms, one in Western New York and the other in the North County, a large new hydroelectric project in the Mohawk Valley, and a small hydroelectric upgrade to an existing dam in the Hudson Valley.

"As New York continues to develop a world class energy infrastructure, these new projects are reinforcing our commitment to providing clean energy to all New Yorkers," Governor Cuomo said. "Through these and other innovative energy projects supported by the State, we are developing a more sustainable mechanism for delivering cleaner, more reliable and resilient energy and will keep us moving forward.”

Once operational, the four projects will add approximately 164 megawatts of new renewable capacity, which will provide about 450,000 megawatt-hours per year of clean renewable energy to New York — enough energy to supply more than 60,000 average-sized homes per year.

The four competitively-selected projects are:

• Arkwright Summit Wind Farm, 78 MW, Arkwright, Chautauqua County

• Jericho Rise Wind Farm, 78 MW, Chateaugay, Franklin County

• City of Watervliet Delta Hydroelectric Project, 8 MW, Rome, Oneida County

• Village of Wappingers Falls Hydroelectric Project, 100 kilowatts, Wappingers Falls, Dutchess County

The funding for these projects is provided in response to the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority’s 9th Main Tier solicitation, a Request for Proposal issued earlier this year, and is being allocated through the State’s Renewable Portfolio Standard, a policy that promotes the development of new renewable energy resources in New York State. The solicitation provides greater long term certainty to contractors through contract terms of up to 20 years, double the length of previous contracts.

"These clean-energy projects will bring more renewable energy to the state's electric grid, helping to meet Governor Cuomo's vision of a power delivery system in New York State that incorporates a greater amount of renewable energy," said John B. Rhodes, president and CEO of NYSERDA. "These four new projects will provide the additional benefit of bringing economic opportunities to communities across the state."

The weighted average award price for the 9th Main Tier solicitation is $22.96 per megawatt-hour of production over the 20-year terms of the awarded contracts. This is approximately one third less than the average contract price for the previous solicitation, which was $34.95 per megawatt-hour of production for 10-year terms.

In total, NYSERDA's nine Renewable Portfolio Standard Main Tier solicitations have funded 71 projects, generating more than 5 million megawatt-hours of renewable energy annually. NYSERDA will issue at least one more Main Tier solicitation under the Renewable Portfolio Standard in 2015. For more information on the 9th Main Tier solicitation, visit: www.nyserda.ny.gov/main-tier.