New York set some very ambitious climate goals, and some are proving harder to attain than others. But one area where we’re overachieving is in adopting solar energy.
As outlined in the state’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, the solar goal was set at 6 gigawatts installed by 2025. With about three and a half months left in 2024, we’ve reached 5.7 gigawatts, making it a pretty safe bet that we’ll reach 6 gigawatts before the end of the year.
According to Anika Wistar-Jones, Managing Director of Solar One’s Here Comes Solar program, much of the credit goes to the fact that, through local, state and federal incentives, including those available through the Inflation Reduction Act, 70-90% of solar system costs can be covered.
One project that Here Comes Solar has worked with to take advantage of these incentives is a domestic violence crisis shelter run by Barrier Free Living, which is waiting on final approvals to install solar panels with a lifetime savings of $206,000. The HCS team estimates that the shelter can recoup its costs in 14 years- a much shorter period than the life of the panels, which usually last between 20 and 30 years.
“These projects are small, so they can be built quickly,” said Noah Ginsburg, executive director of the New York Solar Energy Industries Association and the former Director of Here Comes Solar. He added that the economic conditions that derailed some larger solar and wind projects didn’t rock those smaller solar projects quite as much, and the permitting process for them is much less onerous.
To date, Here Comes Solar has facilitated the installation of 32 megawatts of solar, or 15% of New York City’s capacity, on 900 buildings. As New York draws closer to its 2030 clean energy deadline, expect even more of these projects to be approved and installed.
You can read more about this on The City website here.
