The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) announced the seventh round of the Commercial and Industrial (C&I) Carbon Challenge.

The challenge will allocate $10 million as part of Round XV of Governor Kathy Hochul’s Regional Economic Development Council (REDC) initiative. The C&I Carbon Challenge supports electrification and emissions reduction strategies at commercial and industrial businesses and institutions to help increase efficiency and reduce the energy use and overall costs of operating large buildings and facilities.

“Each year, the C&I Carbon Challenge welcomes new initiatives that reimagine how New York’s commercial and industrial buildings can be part of the clean energy economy,” said Doreen M. Harris, President and CEO, NYSERDA, in a statement. “As part of the seventh round, we’ll continue to invest in modernizing buildings, making them more efficient and helping to offset overall costs for New York businesses and institutions.”

The C&I Carbon Challenge is a competitive program that provides funding to large energy users, such as eligible manufacturers, colleges, universities, health care facilities and office building owners in New York State, as well as decarbonization solution providers working with these businesses and institutions to implement cost-effective clean energy projects that reduce carbon emissions. 

Several project types will be considered, including energy efficiency, manufacturing process improvements, carbon capture technology, renewable generation or energy storage. While any project type that reduces emissions is eligible, NYSERDA is interested in those that electrify buildings or manufacturing equipment, capture GHG emissions, reduce industrial process emissions and/or utilize low-carbon fuels.

Through the challenge, NYSERDA will provide awards ranging from $500,000 to $5 million to partially offset clean energy project costs for the largest commercial and industrial energy users in the state. To be eligible, a project portfolio will need to reduce at least 25,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (mtCO2e) over the lifetime of the projects.