With the state’s ambitious clean energy mandates in mind, on June 22, 2023, the New York State Public Service Commission (Commission) identified a Public Policy Requirement (PPR) for additional transmission facilities to deliver at least 4,770 megawatts (MW) of offshore wind energy generation into New York City. This prompted the New York Independent System Operator (NYISO), according to its federal tariff, to initiate its evaluation and solicitation process, known in the industry as the Public Policy Transmission Need (PPTN) process, on April 4, 2024. However, as the Commission indicated in this recent Order, recent actions by the federal administration have effectively stymied the state’s efforts to timely procure additional offshore wind generation, which would in turn feed into any transmission project ultimately selected by the NYISO as a solution for the PPR identified for the New York City area (NYC PPTN). Accordingly, in its July 17, 2025 Order, the Commission determined to withdraw its PPR finding, and indicated that the NYISO would therefore cease its consideration of solutions as part of the NYC PPTN process.
The Commission’s PPR finding was predicated on the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act’s (CLCPA) offshore wind target, requiring the procurement of 9 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind generation capacity by 2035, as part of the state’s broader requirement for decarbonization by 2040. Since the CLCPA’s enactment, New York State has procured approximately 1.8 GW of offshore wind capacity, and that capacity is either built and operating (132 MW, courtesy of the South Fork Wind Farm, which delivers power into Long Island) or has at least secured approvals at both the federal and state level and is currently under construction (the Empire Wind 1 and Sunrise Wind Projects, with 810 MW and 924 MW of planned capacity, respectively). These projects each rely upon interconnecting transmission lines (known as gen-tie lines) developed by the offshore wind developer in concert with the generation projects to deliver their power into the state’s electrical grid; as such, they are unaffected by the Commission’s decision to cancel the NYC PPTN. However, the NYC PPTN was designed to accommodate future offshore wind project development, where developers would incorporate the NYC PPTN in bids made to the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA). In this recent NYC PPTN, the NYISO was considering 28 proposals submitted by four developers.
The Commission pointed squarely at action taken at the federal level to actively undermine offshore wind development, and its inability to circumvent or overcome such action, as the basis for cancelling the NYC PPTN. The Commission recognized that offshore wind generation in federal waters cannot be built without federal approval, and in light of both a standing federal policy to not approve or consider offshore wind leases or issue other approvals for offshore wind projects1 as well as the recent sunset of federal tax credits for renewable developments,2 the Commission concluded that it could not commit ratepayer funding to the transmission solutions for offshore wind energy without a reasonable expectation of if or when new offshore wind generation development will resume. As stated in the July 17 Order:
“Where the federal government puts insurmountable obstacles in the way of a CLCPA objective, the State’s policies will be frustrated and progress necessarily limited to those things that can be accomplished without federal support or cooperation. Burdening the ratepayers of New York State with costs of the magnitude reported by the NYISO -- $7.9 billion to $23.9 billion -- without any certainty as to when they will receive the benefits of the offshore wind energy that the CLCPA seeks to secure is unjustifiable.”3
In response to stakeholder commentary that the NYC PPTN process be suspended or modified rather than cancelled outright, the Commission noted a procedural impossibility: the NYC PPTN was tied to an in-service date of 2033, and without certainty of a dependable federal partner in the future development of offshore wind, design assumptions and cost estimates would be highly speculative creating untenable risk to ratepayers. While the Commission agreed that there continues to be a need for both offshore wind supply and related transmission, indicated “it is a matter of when, and not whether, offshore wind generation projects will move forward,” and reiterated its commitment to reducing carbon emissions in the energy sector, it nevertheless found that without a dependable federal partner, it would be “irresponsible to commit the State’s ratepayers to assuming the costs of further funding the major offshore wind transmission infrastructure contemplated in the PPR Order.”
The Commission directed the Department of Public Service Staff (DPS Staff) to collaborate further with the NYISO to identify lessons learned through the PPTN process to inform future planning work to be ready to react and restart offshore transmission planning when there is a federal policy change. Further, DPS Staff was also directed to address offshore wind development strategies and other clean energy solutions in the biennial review of the Commission’s Clean Energy Standard in 2026.
If you have any questions regarding the content of this alert, please contact Ekin Senlet, Regulatory Practice Area co-chair, at esenlet@barclaydamon.com; David Solimeno, associate, at dsolimeno@barclaydamon.com; or another member of the firm’s Regulatory or Energy Practice Areas.
1Temporary Withdrawal of All Areas of the Outer Continental Shelf from Offshore Wind Leasing and Review of the Federal Government’s Leasing and Permitting Practices for Wind Projects (January 20, 2025), available at: https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/temporary-withdrawal-of-all-areas-on-the-outer-continental-shelf-from-offshore-wind-leasing-and-review-of-the-federal-governments-leasing-and-permitting-practices-for-wind-projects/.
2Ending Market Distorting Subsidies for Unreliable, Foreign Controlled Energy Sources (July 7, 2025), available at:
https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/07/ending-market-distorting-subsidies-for-unreliable-foreign%E2%80%91controlled-energy-sources/.
3Case 22-E-0633, In the Matter of New York Independent System Operator, Inc. Proposed Public Policy Transmission Needs for Consideration for 2022, Order Withdrawing Public Policy Transmission Need (July 17, 2025), pg. 16.