Objective

To determine the extent of implementation of the one recommendation included in our initial audit report, Application Review and Site Permitting for Major Renewable Energy Projects (Report 2023-S-52).

About the Program

The Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (Climate Act), effective January 1, 2020, was designed to put the State on a path to zero emissions in all economic sectors and requires 100% carbon-free electricity by 2040, placing New York’s program on par with leading programs nationally and internationally. The overarching goals of the Climate Act strive to improve quality of life for New Yorkers, protect the environment, and strengthen infrastructure; and seek to grow economic opportunities and ensure equity and inclusion so all may benefit from Climate Act investments.

Under the Climate Act, the Public Service Commission (PSC) was required to establish a renewable energy program by the end of June 2021 to meet two requirements: by 2030, a minimum of 70% of statewide electric generation secured by load-serving entities (entities subject to PSC jurisdiction that secure energy to serve the end-use customers in the State) to meet their customers’ demand must be generated by renewable energy systems; and by 2040, the statewide electrical demand system must be zero emissions.

To consolidate the environmental review and permitting of major renewable energy facilities in the State, the Office of Renewable Energy Siting (ORES) was created under the Department of State in April 2020 to undertake the coordinated and timely review of proposed major renewable energy facilities to meet the State’s renewable energy goals under the Climate Act, while ensuring the protection of the environment and consideration of all pertinent social, economic, and environmental factors. In the decision to permit such facilities, ORES must review all proposed major renewable energy facilities that generate 25,000 kilowatts or more. In addition, ORES reviewed proposed renewable energy projects generating over 20,000 kW but under 25,000 kW if they opted into the ORES review process. Permit applications must contain a brief, clear, and concise written overall analysis of the major facility components and any other factors ORES should consider before granting the final permit. ORES has 60 days to determine whether a permit application is complete or to notify the applicant in writing if their application is incomplete, along with the reasons why. In addition, ORES must make a final decision and issue a final siting permit for any major renewable energy project within 1 year from the date the application was deemed complete.

On April 20, 2024, the Legislature enacted the Renewable Action Through Project Interconnection and Deployment Act (RAPID Act) to accelerate the siting of both major renewable energy facilities and major electric transmission facilities. The RAPID Act consolidated the environmental review, permitting, and siting of major renewable energy facilities and major electric transmission facilities under the purview of ORES to PSC upon PSC’s adoption of the regulations.

The objective of our initial audit, issued April 24, 2024, was to determine whether ORES was fulfilling its obligations under State law to issue siting permits for major renewable energy projects within the required time frames. ORES was intended, in part, to reduce the time to site major renewable energy projects and bring them online faster in support of the Climate Act’s ambitious goals and timeline. However, the audit found that, while the overall time between application and final siting permit had improved since the creation of ORES, the process took significantly longer than originally envisioned because certain aspects of the process were not considered. For the 15 projects ORES reviewed, we found that neither the time to issue a notice of incomplete application and for the applicant to respond, nor the time prior to an application’s transfer to ORES was taken into consideration.

Key Findings

PSC officials made significant progress in addressing the problems we identified in the initial audit report. The one recommendation identified in the initial audit report was implemented.