NY created an agency to approve more wind, solar farms. An audit says it's too slow.

The state office created to speed the approval of large-scale wind and solar projects is moving too slowly, threatening New York’s clean energy goals, according to an audit released Thursday by the state Comptroller.

The Office of Renewable Energy Siting (ORES,) created in 2020 amid criticism the state’s approval process was “cumbersome and inefficient,” took on average three years to approve each of 14 projects eventually greenlighted for construction.

With another 50 projects in the pipeline, “it follows that the chances of more delays increase as ORES’ workload increases,” the audit notes.

ORES is the only agency of its kind in the nation dedicated to siting renewable energy projects in a state with some ambitious climate goals.

Over the next four years, New York wants to rely on renewable energy sources like wind and solar for 70% of its energy needs. By 2040, New York envisions a carbon-free grid, eliminating the need for fossil fuels.

But state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said to meet those goals, ORES needs to do a better job ensuring deadlines are met for large-scale projects that generated thousands of megawatts of power and are considered linchpins in the state’s energy future.

“ORES needs to increase transparency around permitting timelines to allow the state to better assess its progress in meeting its renewable energy goals,” DiNapoli said.

Winds: 'Where's the rural justice?' Turbine plans for Lake Ontario shoreline hit headwinds in WNY

What's behind the delays? ORES defends its record

In a response, ORES executive director Houtan Moaveni said the agency has been meeting statutorily imposed deadlines but says incomplete applications have led to delays.

“ORES staff has worked tirelessly to set up this new Office, and to fulfill its statutory duties on a timely basis,” Moaveni writes. “The challenges of implementing the nation’s first state office devoted exclusively to renewable energy siting during extremely difficult circumstances have been met with the professionalism, fairness, and teamwork envisioned by Executive Law 94-c.”

Under ORES, the length of time from the initial application to approval has been shortened from four to five years under the previous process.

But the audit says ORES needs to track an application from the day it’s received through final approval, so the public understands how long these projects actually take.

And ORES needs to determine what’s holding up an application, so the process becomes more efficient.

“If you’re actually tracking things and you’re following up with them (developers) and also understanding what’s causing the delay then you can hopefully alleviate some of those delays,” said Tina Kim, the Deputy Comptroller of State Government Accountability. “If there’s a problem with the process that all of the applicants are facing then maybe that’s something you have to look at.”

In a statement, ORES spokesman Nathan Stone said the agency has issued decisions ahead of its legal deadlines.

"The delays in the process documented within the audit are not only separate from the milestones in the law but are reflective of early project planning and community engagement," Stone said. "Both are essential to ensure that the buildout of renewable energy facilities at the scale and speed required to meet the State’s climate targets do not adversely impact the State’s most valuable resources or burden local communities."

ORES has had its critics since its beginnings.

Towns: NY created an agency to OK wind and solar projects quickly. Upstate towns aren't happy

Towns, developers not happy

Towns in upstate New York railed at what they viewed as the agency’s attempts to undercut their concerns about the impact massive wind and solar farms were having on agricultural land.

A state lawmaker sponsored a bill that would have abolished the agency.

But state officials defended ORES, saying it was essential to achieving its hard-to-reach clean energy goals. When ORES was created, only six renewable energy projects had received permits in the previous nine years.

Transmission: Hochul plans to build NY's energy transmission lines faster. Will upstate towns balk?

To date, ORES has issued 15 final siting permits totaling 2.3 gigawatts of power. All but one are located upstate. None are in operation.

Wind and solar developers have been complaining about the approval process for years.

Nuclear: NY's fossil fuel use soared after Indian Point plant closure. Officials sound the alarm

"Comptroller DiNapoli raises many valid points that we have echoed for years,” said Deb Peck Kelleher, the interim executive director of the Alliance for Clean Energy New York, which represents large-scale developers. “Improvements at ORES have dramatically decreased the time it takes to get a project permitted, but it still takes too long for a project in New York to go from conception to construction.”

In January, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced she would add to ORES’ responsibilities by giving the agency authority to approve transmission projects.

There remain pockets of Upstate New York without transmission lines needed to deliver energy from wind and solar farms to the grid so it can be delivered down to New York City where it’s needed most. New York City’s energy grid is largely reliant on fossil fuels.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: NY renewable energy siting office too slow to approve projects: audit