Seeking Proposals for Program Manager and Utility Data Advisor to Help Increase Grid Data Access to Inform Policy, Investments, and Operational Decisions

May 24, 2021

The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) today announced up to $5.4 million is available for a Program Manager to assemble and manage a team of specialists tasked with developing an Integrated Energy Data Resource (IEDR) and a Utility Data Advisor to provide further support and guidance. The IEDR is intended to increase access to and transparency of energy data to facilitate easier analysis of important grid insights to help researchers, clean energy project developers and the public determine policy, investment, and operational decisions. The creation of the IEDR, which was approved by the Public Service Commission in February, will accelerate the deployment of clean energy solutions and supports Governor Andrew M. Cuomo’s goal for a 40 percent reduction in emissions by 2030 as outlined in the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (Climate Act).

Doreen M. Harris, President and CEO of NYSERDA said, “As we actively ramp up our deployment of clean and renewable energy resources and enabling technologies, it is important to understand how the pieces affect the whole. NYSERDA is pleased to lead this important data modernization effort which will inform the State’s innovative thinkers and solution providers as we advance toward the State’s goal of getting 70 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2030.”

Today’s announcement is the first step as part of a $12 million project to build the IEDR team. NYSERDA, named program sponsor as part of the February PSC order, anticipates additional solicitations later this year to add a solution architect and implementation contractor to the IEDR team. Unleashing the power of integrated energy customer and energy system data is expected to attract investment, enable analytics, help identify operational efficiencies, promote innovation, and encourage new business models, which will create value for customers and the State’s energy system. The IEDR is expected to include a wide range of useful information and functions that may include weather, demographics, local government planning and zoning, building attributes, land attributes, property taxes, real estate values, locations of environmental justice or Disadvantaged Community areas, electric vehicle (EV) registrations, EV charger types and locations, EV charger loads, localized grid load-serving capacity, DER aggregations by operator, DER aggregations by grid service, and power quality measurements.

NYSERDA is making $5 million available for a Program Manager to oversee a team of providers, and organize and administer all activities that will lead to the operation of the IEDR, including:

  • Support the work of a Steering Committee comprised of NYSERDA and Department of Public Service (DPS) staff who will lead this initiative;
  • Form and support a Utility Coordination Group and an Advisory Group to provide stakeholder engagement, oversee the work, and guide the implementation;
  • Manage stakeholder engagement & communication to inform the program including how it will be used and built out;
  • Develop and manage the program budget and implementation schedule from planning and design to building, testing and commissioning of the IEDR;
  • Coordinate and support contributor work and contracting for additional services required for the IEDR in cooperation with NYSERDA;
  • Manage program analysis and reporting; and
  • Identify and ensure delivery of a minimum of five use cases for the IEDR system within 24 months. Use cases are high-priority ways in which the IEDR can be used to generate value and will be further defined as part of the NYSERDA led stakeholder process.

To further support the overall IEDR effort, NYSERDA is making $400,000 available for a Utility Data Advisor who will provide dedicated support to oversee and provide guidance on data sourced from the utilities including information such as energy consumption, grid capacity, and distributed energy resources. The utility data advisor will also participate in the IEDR Utility Coordination Group.

Application deadlines are below. Full details of the solicitations and associated requirements are available on NYSERDA’s website:

  • IEDR Program Manager - The deadline for submission is 3:00 p.m. on July 1, 2021.
  • Utility Data Advisor - The deadline for submission is 3:00 p.m. on July 7, 2021.
  • NYSERDA will hold a webinar on June 2 from 12:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. for interested parties. Registration is required to join this event. To register, visit NYSERDA’s websiteLink opens in new window - close new window to return to this page..

Robust stakeholder engagement through the Advisory Group and webinars will ensure that the centralized platform provided by the IEDR will be a trusted resource that all interested parties and stakeholders can use to efficiently access and analyze the elements of the State’s energy system that are most useful to them. NYSERDA has held one public webinar with plans for several more over the next two years to gather information and insights from users. In addition, the Advisory Group will bring together a broad spectrum of stakeholder perspectives to inform the design and operation of the IEDR including local governments, low- to moderate- income (LMI) and environmental justice community organizations, and non-governmental agencies to ensure that the IEDR will increase access to data that may provide direct benefit to disadvantaged communities, and improve LMI program delivery, outreach and incentive offerings that benefit this population.

DPS and other state agencies will also serve a role in implementing the IEDR including NYSERDA, the New York Power Authority (NYPA), Long Island Power Authority (LIPA), the New York Independent System Operator, Inc. (NYISO), and the New York State investor-owned electric and gas utilities (IOUs). NYSERDA, NYPA, LIPA and the jurisdictional utilities will be sharing the initial development costs.

New York State's Nation-Leading Climate Plan

Governor Cuomo's nation-leading climate agenda is the most aggressive climate and clean energy initiative in the nation, calling for an orderly and just transition to clean energy that creates jobs and continues fostering a green economy as New York State recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic. Enshrined into law through the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, New York is on a path to achieve its mandated goal of a zero-emission electricity sector by 2040, including 70 percent renewable energy generation by 2030, and to reach economy wide carbon neutrality. It builds on New York's unprecedented investments to ramp-up clean energy including over $21 billion in 91 large-scale renewable projects across the state, $6.8 billion to reduce buildings emissions, $1.8 billion to scale up solar, more than $1 billion for clean transportation initiatives, and over $1.2 billion in NY Green Bank commitments. Combined, these investments are supporting more than 150,000 jobs in New York's clean energy sector in 2019, a 2,100 percent growth in the distributed solar sector since 2011 and a commitment to develop 9,000 megawatts of offshore wind by 2035. Under Governor Cuomo's leadership, New York will build on this progress and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 85 percent from 1990 levels by 2050, while ensuring that at least 35 percent with a goal of 40 percent of the benefits of clean energy investments are directed to disadvantaged communities, and advance progress towards the state's 2025 energy efficiency target of reducing on-site energy consumption by 185 trillion BTUs of end-use energy savings.