Hochul praises major solar milestone for New York
Oct. 17—Six gigawatts of distributed solar have been installed across New York, marking the early achievement of the state's Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act statutory goal a year ahead of schedule, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Thursday.
The solar power generation, which benefits homes, business owners and off-takers of community solar projects, is enough to power more than a million homes.
"Today we celebrate the early achievement of New York's 6-GW milepost, which brings us one step closer to a reliable and resilient zero-emission grid," Hochul said. "Distributed solar is at the heart of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, expanding the availability of renewable energy, and delivering substantial benefits for our health, our environment, and our economy."
New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) President and CEO Doreen M. Harris made the announcement at a distributed solar project in the Town of New Scotland. The project, developed by New Leaf Energy and owned by Generate Capital, includes a 5.7-megawatt solar array that will produce 6.7 million kilowatt-hours of solar energy annually, enough to power nearly one thousand homes. The project participates in the Solar for All pilot program with utility partner National Grid where the energy harnessed by this project benefits low-income households.
With the achievement of New York's 6-GW goal — which is underpinned by support from the state's $3.3 billion NY Sun initiative — distributed solar is generating enough energy to power more than a million homes and businesses across the state, including those in disadvantaged communities. The expeditious achievement of the 6-GW goal has also generated approximately $9.2 billion in private investment across New York.
To date, solar projects in New York have created more than 14,000 solar jobs statewide, from engineering and design to installation. In addition, New York requires all solar projects more than 1 megawatt (MW) in size to pay prevailing wages, further supporting the opportunity to advance family sustaining clean energy jobs across New York, Hochul said.
In anticipation of the success, three years ago Hochul directed NYSERDA and the Department of Public Service to expand the goal to 10 GW by 2030. With 6 GW now complete, New York continues to be ahead of schedule for reaching the expanded 10-GW goal with almost 3.4 GW already in development.
New York is the national leader in community solar deployments, allowing renters, low-income residents, and others who cannot install their own panels to benefit from solar energy. In 2023, New York ranked first in the nation in total installed community solar capacity. Last year was also the state's most productive year ever for solar installations, with 885 MW of capacity installed.
