Under New York’s 2023 budget (see Part QQ), the New York Power Authority will have broad new ability to build renewables and can compete for state contracts subsidized by ratepayers.
The legislation also moves up the date NYPA must plan to retire its fossil fuel plants by 2030. The authority had already aimed to decarbonize its power plants by 2035.
The budget briefly mentions agrivoltaics in granting the New York Power Authority an exemption to a larger prohibition against developing renewable energy on farmland (See Part QQ, Section 1, modifying section 27-a(b) of PAL 1005). This approach serves as a model for how to protect farmland without fully excluding renewable energy development thereon.