The New York Power Authority (NYPA) is preparing to further spur the growth of renewable and distributed energy projects in the North Country and throughout the state by awarding $275 million in contracts to firms ready to partner with government customers.

The funding will help to meet Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s requirement for 50 percent of the state’s electricity to come from renewables by 2030.

Avangrid, a subsidiary of Iberdrola Renewables, is heading the North Ridge Wind Farm, which calls for about 40 wind towers to be constructed in Parishville and Hopkinton.

“The efficient operation of public facilities is a top priority and increasing the number of successful renewable and distributed energy projects is key in achieving New York State’s energy goals and reducing energy costs,” said Gil C. Quiniones, NYPA president and CEO. “This initiative will allow NYPA to provide a greater selection of services to its government customers and ensure we have a set of contractors that could respond quickly, handle potentially multiple projects at once, and cover a range of relevant renewable energy technologies.”

The NYPA Board of Trustees voted to award $275 million in contracts to 26 firms for a term of up to five years. The funding will provide audit, design, engineering, procurement, and installation services to support the expansion of energy efficiency projects using renewable sources.

Increased investment in renewable and distributed energy will help NYPA expand its energy efficiency efforts to more customers and new types of projects, helping to accelerate the governor’s vision of a transformed energy system that is cleaner, greener and more cost effective. These investments also support Reforming the Energy Vision (REV) to build a cleaner, more resilient and affordable energy system for New York.

Expanding the expertise and capabilities of NYPA’s pre-qualified vendors to include innovative renewable and distributed technologies will provide NYPA more flexibility and allow for faster implementation of services.

The approved firms were pre-qualified in a range of technologies including solar PV, solar thermal, wind, energy storage, load control and microgrid control. On an individual project basis, NYPA will issue a solicitation among the firms pre-qualified for the specific technology and region and the successful bidder will be awarded the task to design and build the project.

The approved vendors were chosen based on qualifications after responding to a March 29 Request for Proposals and Qualification that solicited firms interested in providing expedited design-build and implementation services for renewable and distributed technologies.

The expanded contractor list will provide more renewable technology options for NYPA government customers that participate in the Governor’s BuildSmartNY program for energy efficiency at public buildings.

Under this plan, NYPA has committed to doubling its efforts and implementing $300 million annually in energy efficiency measures by 2020, including renewable projects for local governments.

A major emphasis is being placed on the deployment of solar installations and NYPA has committed to working with public entities to install an additional 125 MW of solar capacity by 2020, tripling the amount currently installed with these customers.

This investment also supports New York's commitment to create 40,000 new clean energy and technology jobs by 2020.