New York Green Bank aims to grow portfolio by two-thirds next year
Dive Brief:
The New York Green Bank (NYGB) wants to increase its portfolio by two-thirds over the next year, mostly by investing in larger clean energy projects, according to RTO Insider.
In its recently released business plan, the organization said it wants to invest $200 million in 2017, which would equate to an average of $50 million of closed transactions each quarter. In the 12 months ending June 17, 2016, NYGB closed nine transactions with $120.5 million in total commitments.
NY Green Bank’s mission is to provide capital to renewable energy projects that otherwise might not attract sufficient private capital to move forward.
Dive Insight:
Financial barriers can be as large a barrier as technological hurdles when it comes to the proliferation of renewable energy. To help projects get over that barrier, at least six states have formed green banks that are designed to help jump start renewable energy financing.
Last year a report from the Union of Concerned Scientists aimed to show how green banks could help states meet renewable energy targets.
In addition to New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Iowa, and Massachusetts all have green banks. In March, the Union of Concerned Scientist said Michigan could benefit from creating a green bank.
New York says that over the past 12 months, ending June 17, its has mobilized public and private investments supporting $518.3 million in project costs for clean energy projects.
New York has a goal of securing 50% of its energy from clean sources (renewables and nuclear) by 2030.
NYGB is administered by the New York State Energy and Research Development Authority as part of the state’s $5.3 billion Clean Energy Fund.
In its business plan NYGB says it has has identified “two potential opportunities to accelerate market transformation via the creation and introduction of targeted financial products. In both cases, the market is potentially large, but currently suffers from fragmentation, lack of standardization and lack of scale.”
NYGB released two requests for information (RFI) in June in preparation for the subsequent release of a request for proposals at a later date. One RFI is for commercial real estate and multi-family solar and/or energy efficiency systems that would be owned by the building owner instead of third parties. The other RFI is for ground-mounted solar systems for corporate or industrial end users.