New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo is mandating that half of the state's electricity come from renewable sources by 2030. A new 2.7-mW community solar project will help New York to work towards this goal.
The New York State Energy and Research Development Authority (NYSERDA) and Delaware River Solar recently announced the groundbreaking of the project in Otsego County in New York. The solar array, which is being constructed by Delaware River Solar, is expected to provide enough clean energy to power the equivalent of about 400 average-sized homes per year.
“Statewide, New Yorkers continue to seek new ways to save money and gain greater access to clean energy solutions that deliver impactful economic environmental benefits," says Alicia Barton, President and CEO, NYSERDA said, Community solar projects like this one in Otsego County will enable communities to transition to clean sustainable energy and advance New York’s progress towards achieving Governor Cuomo’s goals to reduce harmful emissions and fight climate change.”
The project is being supported by NYSERDA through NY-Sun, Governor Cuomo’s $1 billion initiative to advance the scale-up of solar and move the state closer to having a sustainable, self-sufficient solar industry. Delaware River Solar also received two separate financings from NY Green Bank over the past year. The first, a bridge loan of $7 million, will finance the interconnection expenses of its community solar projects, alleviating one of the significant cost barriers for developers in the community solar sector. In addition, NY Green Bank committed $55 million to participate in a term loan to finance the capital costs of Delaware River Solar’s community solar projects, which are expected to deploy up to 70 mW of solar. NY Green Bank’s participation creates an easier pathway forward for developers and enables greater deployment of community solar along with other distributed generation assets throughout the state.
“New York State’s community solar market has made significant strides in 2018, and NY Green Bank is proud to play an integral role in that progress by providing financing to fund interconnection expenses and capital costs," says Alfred Griffin, President, NY Green Bank said. "We look forward to seeing continued growth in the New York State community solar market.”
Since 2011, solar in New York State has increased more than 1,000 percent and leveraged nearly $2.8 billion in private investments. During the months of July and August 2018, New York completed 80 mW of solar projects – the highest amount completed in two months in the state’s history. New York is ranked third nationally for residential and non-residential solar installed through June 30, 2018, and there are nearly 12,000 people engaged in solar jobs across the state.
An initiative of the NY-Sun program, Community Solar projects increase access to solar in areas where residents may not own property or have ideal conditions to install solar panels at their location by enabling them to subscribe to a community solar project. Once households and businesses subscribe, energy is still delivered through their regular electric provider while the power produced from the community solar array is fed directly back to the electric grid. As a result, the grid is supplied with clean, renewable energy while subscribers get credits on their electric bills.
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