NYSERDA’s 1.7 GW Award Is a Preview of Where New York’s Grid Still Has Room
On September 23, 2026, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority selected nearly 1.7 gigawatts of clean energy capacity: 950 megawatts of lithium-ion battery storage across eight projects, and 719 megawatts across 13 large-scale solar, wind, and hydroelectric projects. The storage awards range from 4 to 8 hours of duration, with the largest single project, a 150 megawatt, 4-hour system from Key Capture Energy, sited in Suffolk County, and an 8-hour, 140 megawatt project from Lighthouse Energy Storage, Grid Connected Infrastructure, and Neoen US landing in Chautauqua County. All of it is expected to be operational by the end of 2030, backing roughly 1,000 jobs and more than $3.7 billion in private investment.
This is one round of a bigger build-out. New York doubled its energy storage target to 6 gigawatts by 2030 back in 2022, NYSERDA plans to select 3 gigawatts total across three solicitations, and a second RFP is already expected before the end of 2026. For developers positioning for that next round, the question this award actually raises isn't "who won," it's "where does interconnection capacity still exist in New York, and how do I find a site before the queue fills in."
Where New York's Interconnection Headroom Actually Is
Pulling New York's substations by available offtake capacity, the largest headroom in the state right now sits well outside the counties that won this round of NYSERDA awards. Chases Lake in Lewis County leads at 1,912 megawatts of available offtake capacity, followed by Fraser in Delaware County at 1,788 megawatts, Oswego in Oswego County at 1,663 megawatts, and Marcy in Oneida County and Coopers Corner in Sullivan County tied at 1,626 megawatts each. None of this round's winning projects, in Ulster, Suffolk, and Chautauqua Counties, appear among the state's highest-capacity interconnection points, which says less about those projects and more about how quickly the best interconnection points get claimed once a solicitation is announced. The developers still evaluating sites for NYSERDA's next 3 gigawatt round have a real head start if they're looking at capacity data now rather than after the RFP drops.
Why This Matters for Renewable and Storage Site Due Diligence
A site that clears every environmental and title check can still be the wrong site if the nearest substation has no room left to give, and available transfer capacity and offtake capacity are exactly the numbers that determine that. For battery storage projects specifically, duration matters as much as megawatts, this round's projects ranged from 4 to 8 hours, and a substation with 1,600 megawatts of headroom today doesn't guarantee that capacity is still available by the time a multi-year interconnection study concludes. For solar and hybrid renewable projects, the same substation data determines whether a well-sited parcel can actually deliver its output to the grid, not just whether the land itself is buildable.
That's the piece that gets skipped when site selection starts with land and looks at power second. Checking ATC and offtake capacity at the start of the process, the same way this NY substation data is built, turns "where's the available land" into "where's the available land that can actually interconnect," which is the more useful question when a 3 gigawatt solicitation is still actively being planned.
What to Check Before the Next NYSERDA Round
Substation headroom, not just proximity. A substation two miles from a parcel is only useful if it has capacity left. Confirm actual available offtake capacity, not nameplate rating, at every substation within reach of a candidate site.
Duration fit for storage. This round's awards spanned 4 to 8 hour systems. Match a storage project's duration profile to what the interconnecting substation and local market actually reward, rather than defaulting to a single standard configuration.
County-level competition. Ulster, Suffolk, and Chautauqua just absorbed this round's awards. Counties with high available capacity that weren't part of this round, including the ones in the chart above, are worth a second look before the next RFP narrows the field.
Timeline against the 2030 deadline. Every project in this round has to be operational by the end of 2030. A site with strong land and capacity fundamentals but a slow permitting or interconnection timeline may not clear that bar for the next round either.
The Takeaway
NYSERDA's award tells you who won this round. It doesn't tell you where the state's remaining interconnection capacity sits, and that's the number that actually matters for the next 3 gigawatt solicitation. Substations like Chases Lake, Fraser, and Oswego currently carry more available offtake capacity than the counties that won this round, which makes them worth a look before the next RFP does the narrowing for you.
Screen New York Sites Before the Next Solicitation
With a second NYSERDA RFP expected before the end of 2026 and 6 gigawatts of storage still to be built out by 2030, the sites worth optioning now are the ones where interconnection capacity has already been checked. LandGate's Offtake Capacity and ATC Data tools surface substation-level capacity like the New York data above, and its Battery Storage and Solar Data layers pair it with the site-level data developers need for the next round.
Request a Demo to see how your own New York shortlist compares against this data.
FAQ
What did NYSERDA just announce?
On September 23, 2026, NYSERDA selected nearly 1.7 gigawatts of clean energy capacity: 950 megawatts of lithium-ion battery storage across 8 projects (4 to 8 hour durations) and 719 megawatts across 13 large-scale solar, wind, and hydroelectric projects, expected to be operational by the end of 2030.
Where is New York's remaining interconnection capacity?
As of this data pull, New York's five highest-capacity substations by available offtake capacity are Chases Lake in Lewis County (1,912 MW), Fraser in Delaware County (1,788 MW), Oswego in Oswego County (1,663 MW), and Marcy in Oneida County and Coopers Corner in Sullivan County, tied at 1,626 MW each.
How many more storage solicitations is New York planning?
NYSERDA plans to select 3 gigawatts of storage total across three solicitations as part of the state's 6 gigawatt by 2030 storage target, with a second RFP expected before the end of 2026.
How do I check available offtake capacity for a renewable or storage site?
Available offtake capacity measures how much power can actually be drawn from the grid for consumption or delivery at a given substation, distinct from Available Transfer Capacity, which measures how much power a substation can move without an upgrade. Both should be checked together, and both change over time as nearby projects move through the interconnection queue.
