NY Green Bank

In December 19, 2013 the Public Service Commission (PSC) approved a petition issued by NYSERDA’s to establish and fund the operations of New York Green Bank (NY Green Bank). NY Green Bank is a state-sponsored investment fund, working to accelerate clean energy deployment throughout New York State by partnering with the private sector to address and alleviate market and financial barriers preventing a thriving clean energy marketplace. NY Green Bank does not accept deposits or offer retail loans, and instead works on the wholesale level, operating in direct response to real-time market needs.

Funding

In December 2013, the PSC approved the reallocation of $165.6 million of uncommitted NYSERDA and utility Energy Efficiency Portfolio Standard (EEPS), System Benefit Charge (SBC) III funds, and NYSERDA RPS funds. Plus an additional $52.9 million raised from selling Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative carbon allowances. These reallocations provide an initial capitalization fund of $218.5 million. In July 2015, the PSC approved additional $150 million dollars of uncommitted NYSERDA funds to support the NY Green Bank. In December 2016, the NY PSC approved additional $782 million for NY Green Bank as part of a $5 billion NY Clean Energy Fund. This finally completes the NY Green Bank initial plan of a full capitalization goal of $1 billion dollars. 

Financing Structure

NY Green Bank works with a broad range of market participants such as energy service companies, developers, and equipment manufacturers. Rather than providing loans directly to the companies for pre-construction operations, NY Green Bank works in partnership with the participating financing entities, including banks and other private sector participants, to address existing market barriers and alleviate those in order to expand today’s clean energy financing markets. The NY Green Bank is flexible in terms of its involvement in any given project or transaction and can assume various roles, including but not limited to: provide credit enhancements (e.g. a reserve account or a junior interest), serve as a lender (e.g. senior, mezzanine or subordinated), or warehouse provider (with likelihood of being taken out by private sector third parties). These financial arrangements are targeted towards funding various clean energy projects that are economically viable but not currently financeable due to financing gaps in today’s clean energy marketplace.

Eligibility

The NY Green Bank can participate in projects located in the State of New York and eligible, commercially-proven technologies include: solar, wind, and other renewable energy generation technologies, energy efficiency measures, electricity load reduction, on-site generation and similar projects that support the State’s clean energy objectives.

Interested participants may submit a proposal for financing arrangements to NY Green Bank through its open solicitation. NY Green Bank has a standing Request for Proposals (RFP) available on its website, which remains open, and proposals are evaluated as they are received. The RFP must include the description of the project, financing structure and an explanation of why NY Green Bank financing is required in order to complete the transaction (why is the private sector not financing this project on its own? How, with Green Bank financing, will this project lead to more, similar projects getting done?). NY Green Bank will consider different criteria such as expected financial returns, creditworthiness, scalability of the project, greenhouse gas reduction potential, and other considerations well in advance of financing the project. In most cases, the bank will invest alongside other capital providers and work with industry participants who deal directly with end-use customers. While there is no maximum or minimum project size NY Green Bank will consider, the expected project range is between NY $5 million to $50 million.