AES Advances Renewable Energy with Permitted Wind and Solar Projects in New York

AES Corp.’s Clean Power subsidiary gained some positive Earth Day news in New York this week when the state’s Office of Renewable Energy Siting and Electric Transmission (ORES) issued permits for three AES-led renewable energy projects totaling 343 MW of future grid-connected capacity.

The ORES issued final siting permits for AES Clean Power’s wind and solar projects in Clinton, Jefferson and Lewis counties of New York. Those projects are the 107.5-MW Altona Wind, 110.5-MW Clinton Wind and 125-MW Sugar Maple Solar.

The construction phases will require about 550 workers, and once operational will employ 25 permanent jobs. All three will be interconnected into the main grid and could offset more than 500,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide annually compared with fossil-fuel power generation.

ORES has now permitted more than 5.1 GW of wind and solar capacity connected into the New York grid.

“I am proud of the work that ORES is doing to contribute to New York’s clean energy future,” said Office of Renewable Energy Siting and Electric Transmission Executive Director Zeryai Hagos, in a statement. “These three projects will bring good-paying construction jobs and millions of dollars in payments to the host communities while providing clean, affordable electricity to New York’s grid. The two wind projects are reusing the sites and some of the infrastructure of already existing projects, extending New York’s legacy of careful renewable energy siting.”

The scaling up of grid-level wind power comes despite a pushback against renewables federally from the Trump Administration, particularly vs. offshore wind. However, earlier this week the U.S. Department of Energy announced after a review that it would move forward 80% of Biden-era funding for energy projects.

The two wind facilities in the towns of Altona and Clinton in Clinton County will replace existing facilities that have reached the end of their useful life. The existing facilities will be decommissioned and replaced with new more efficient and state-of-the art wind turbines and associated infrastructure as well as substation improvements.

The new facilities will reduce the total number of turbines while delivering a generating capacity of 218 MW, an increase of 20 MW from the existing facility generation. The Clinton facility is expected to reach commercial operation in 2028 and the Altona facility in 2029.

The Sugar Maple Solar Project will be in the town of Croghan, Lewis County, and the Town of Wilna, Jefferson County. The facility will include solar arrays, access roads, fencing, landscaping, buried and overhead collection lines, a 20-MW battery energy storage system (BESS), and interconnection facilities.

Sugar Maple Solar will interconnect to the New York electrical grid via a new point of interconnection located on National Grid’s existing transmission lines.

AES Corp. is an independent developer of both gas-fired and renewable energy projects nationwide. Earlier this year, the company announced it had agreed to be acquired by a consortium led by BlackRock’s Global Infrastructure Partners and EQT Infrastructure VI Fund.