NYSERDA says the projects are expected to generate enough renewable energy to power more than 430,000 homes and create over 3,000 short- and long-term well-paying jobs. The projects also advance the Clean Climate Careers initiative, announced by Cuomo in June 2017. The initiative focuses on accelerating renewable energy and energy efficiency to make New York home to 40,000 new, good-paying clean energy jobs by 2020.

Award recipients were chosen from a pool of 88 applications from 30 clean energy developers. During the competitive selection process, bonus points were awarded to renewable energy projects that demonstrated a commitment to the creation of local jobs and the use of locally manufactured components. The two-step review process also included non-price criteria to evaluate the applications. The criteria included scoring for the developer’s experience in constructing and financing renewable projects; the developer’s previous project development experience in New York; and the project’s development status related to grid interconnection, permitting and site control. Proposals were reviewed and scored by a technical committee of professional independent evaluators.