FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Tuesday, July 29, 2025
Contact: info@publicpowerny.org

New Yorkers Win More Public Renewables in Updated NYPA Strategic Plan

Public Power NY: “15 GW by 2030 is within reach”

White Plains, New York – Today, the New York Power Authority (NYPA) Board of Trustees announced a draft update to its strategic plan to implement the Build Public Renewables Act (BPRA), more than doubling the amount of projects it will build from three gigawatts (GW) to seven. The updated plan also scales up NYPA’s ambition for renewable energy in downstate New York, a key demand of advocates seeking to lower bills, create green union jobs, and improve air quality.

The BPRA, passed in 2023, authorizes the NYPA to build and own renewable energy projects, giving the state a powerful tool to build at least 15GW of public renewables by 2030 to meet the legally mandated goals of the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA). NYPA’s initial plan under CEO Justin Driscoll failed to put the state on track to meet the targets of the CLCPA. New Yorkers submitted an unprecedented 5,300 public comments in just two months calling for the state to build more.

The Public Power NY Coalition released the following statement:

“New Yorkers stood up in record numbers to demand New York lead the way on building publicly owned, union built renewable energy, and we’re winning. The rapid addition of 4 more gigawatts of public renewables shows NYPA can build even more than the 15GW necessary for us to meet the state’s climate goals, including 5 GW downstate. Instead of cutting deals with Trump or gutting New York’s climate mandates the way he is federally, Governor Hochul must ensure NYPA leads the nation on lowering energy bills, slashing pollution, creating good green jobs, and protecting our planet now.”

Public comments will be accepted on the draft updated strategic plan through September 12 and the Board of Trustees will vote on the plan on December 9.  

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Note to the editor:

About Public Power NY

Public Power NY is a movement fighting to ensure New York effectively carries out the Build Public Renewables Act by building 15 Gigawatts of public renewables by 2030. Hailed as the first statewide Green New Deal law, BPRA was written by PPNY and passed in 2023 thanks to four years of organizing by a multiracial, multi-generational movement of climate and advocacy organizations, labor unions representing millions of New Yorkers and tens of thousands of New Yorkers who have taken action from upstate, downstate, and everywhere in between. With federal climate action off the table, BPRA has enabled NY to not just play defense against Trump, but lead the way the way FDR created NYPA to do.