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Boralex Inc. (Boralex), announced that five solar farms with a combined capacity of 540 megawatts (MWs) and 77MW of storage were selected by New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA). This was part of the 2021 solicitation for utilities-scale renewable energy certificates (REC). The solar farms, once completed, will produce more than 1TWh of solar electricity per year, sufficient to power over 141,200 homes each year.
Upstate New York will host the selected 5 photovoltaic projects for electricity generation.
Boralex also created the Beyond Renewables Fund in accordance with its environmental, social, and governance priorities. This fund provides meaningful support for our host communities and disadvantaged communities. For the duration of our facility’s operation, resources will be provided to local partners that are focused on STEM education as well as workforce development programming.
Boralex President and Chief Executive Officer Patrick Decostre said, “Today’s news solidifies Boralex’s role in New York State’s energy market during the critical expansion of renewable electric generation.” These projects demonstrate the innovative, strategic and creative approaches we take to solar farm development as well as community engagement. I am proud to be associated with Boralex and their efforts in creating clean, competitive energy.
NYSERDA has launched its fifth request to proposals for April 2021 in order to help New York achieve its goal of 70% renewable electricity by 2030.
RECs are renewable electricity entering the electric grid. Each REC represents one megawatt hour (or more) of electricity from a renewable source such as solar. Boralex’s and NYSERDA’s 20-year Renewable Energy Standard Agreements will be executed today to purchase RECs that are associated with selected energy production projects.
All energy related to the RECs must only be consumed in New York State. The price of the RECs is indexed to a reference price for energy and potential price. This will protect the merchant energy and revenue of the projects and eliminate the need to have a separate long-term offtake agreement.
Doreen M. Harris, President and CEO of NYSERDA, stated that “The large-scale projects announced today, which include five Boralex projects,” bring New York State closer to achieving its clean energy goals. She also said that the projects will help transition us towards a zero emission electricity system. NYSERDA is looking forward to working closely with Boralex in order to ensure that these projects are developed responsibly and include local input so that host communities can realize the vital jobs and investments from these solar farms.
