New York’s Buildings of Excellence Competition is still accepting proposals for demonstration projects until this Wednesday, September 18, at 3 pm ET. Now in its fifth round, the Buildings of Excellence Competition will award a total of $10 million in new funding to project teams from around the state, with teams eligible to receive up to $1 million per project. Administered by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), the competition is designed to incentivize clean and resilient building, and to provide financial assistance to teams who pioneer new and replicable methods of decarbonizing and electrifying multifamily buildings in New York. Winners are expected to be announced later this year.
Projects that are located in disadvantaged communities or eight stories in height or greater will receive special consideration, as will projects involving the adaptive re-use of commercial office, institutional, or retail spaces for multifamily housing. The competition is also structured to prioritize funding for projects that leverage technology that uses the least amount of energy during peak times and relies on refrigerants with lower global warming potential. Projects that employ geothermal heat pump systems for space conditioning are eligible for higher levels of funding than those that do not.
Since being launched in 2019, the competition has awarded $58 million to 65 projects from throughout the state. Of those sixty-five projects, 71% have committed to building to Passive House standards. Of the 8,111 housing units to be created by the program, 6,169 serve low- to moderate-income households.
Proposals for demonstration projects will be accepted through September 18, 2024, at 3:00 p.m. The portal to submit an application can be found here, while the full RFP is available here. Additional information can be found on NYSERDA’s website.
Applications to secure Early Design Support funding will be accepted on a continuous basis through December 31, 2025, or until funds are exhausted. To learn more about the Early Design Support program, see the RFP here.