New York Power Authority takes 51% of the 240 MW Rich Road solar project, EDF the rest
Serguey Asael Shinder2 min readThe New York Power Authority (NYPA) will own 51% of Rich Road Solar, a 240 MW project in St. Lawrence County, with EDF Power Solutions North America as minority owner overseeing construction, NYPA announced on 28 September, as reported by Utility Dive.
A new role for a hydro utility. NYPA supplies power to municipal utilities and rural cooperatives in New York and historically owned mainly hydroelectric plants. The 2023-24 state budget tasked it with developing and owning renewable projects. Rich Road is its largest solar deal since then, and the first NYPA project to use a public-private partnership model and to secure expiring federal tax credits, according to chief executive Justin Driscoll. He said that, amid industry headwinds, the authority has built the structures, team and project pipeline needed for large-scale renewables, and that those efforts are now bearing fruit.
Timeline and contracts. Construction is expected to begin in late 2027, with commercial operation in 2030. The project holds a 20-year contract for Tier-1 renewable energy certificates, awarded in the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority's 2025 solicitation under the state's Renewable Energy Standard. The host community will receive $1.2 million in electricity benefit payments over the first ten years of operation.
The rest of the pipeline. NYPA is also developing Somers Solar, a 20 MW project in Washington County that it is building on its own and expects to operate in late 2027. EDF's North American chief executive Tristan Grimbert said majority public ownership shows how such partnerships can deliver competitive clean energy at scale.
What it means
New York has given a public power authority a direct role in building renewables to make up for slower private development. Rich Road shows the model NYPA has settled on for large projects: a private developer that builds and co-owns, a public majority owner, and a state certificate contract underneath. Whether it scales depends on how many projects can still lock in the expiring federal credits, which the authority itself names as part of the deal's logic.