Renewable energy projects in New York have been taking more than three years to receive siting permits due to application delays, according to an audit released Thursday by state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli's office.

The audit of the Office of Renewable Energy Siting (ORES), which was created in 2020, found permit applications were often delayed due to missing or insufficient documentation. 

“New York is rightfully trying to lead the way to a clean energy transition, and the Office of Renewable Energy Siting was created to expedite the siting of renewable energy projects to help achieve the clean energy goals of the ambitious Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act,” DiNapoli said. “ORES needs to increase transparency around permitting timelines to allow the state to better assess its progress in meeting its renewable energy goals.”

ORES was designed to streamline and expedite the environmental review and permitting of major renewable energy projects and associated transmission facilities to help the state meet the 2019 climate law's goals and timelines, which aims to achieve 70% renewably sourced electricity by 2030 and a zero-emission electric grid by 2040.

DiNapoli’s audit reviewed 15 projects and found 14 took nearly four years to obtain a site permit, with the majority of time being spent on the permit application.

DiNapoli recommended ORES track the number of days from initial application to final siting permit to identify time consuming areas of the process. ORES officials said they track and meet all time frames required by law during the site permitting process.