(Photo Credit: Reforming the Energy Vision on Facebook)New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced this week that $40 million will be available in early November to support solar projects that integrate energy storage. This latest investment is aimed at helping the state reach its energy storage target of 1,500-megawatts by 2025.
The funding comes from the NY-Sun public-private partnership, a $1 billion investment program to build a self-sustaining solar market and solar industry in the state. Since the program began, 85,327 solar projects with a total capacity of 1,203.2 MW and an expected annual production of 1,395 GWh have been completed, according to the governor’s office.
NY-Sun is a major component of the governor’s Reforming the Energy Vision (REV) strategy to build a cleaner, more resilient and affordable energy system by stimulating investment in technologies like solar, wind, and energy efficiency. REV also requires 50% of the state’s electricity needs to come from renewable energy by 2030.
“Energy storage will advance even more solar and other distributed energy resources across New York as it improves New York’s electric grid and increases the use of renewable electric to power commercial and industrial businesses,” said Richard Kauffman, chair of energy and finance for New York State.
In January, New York State became one of only a handful of states to have an energy storage mandate. Cuomo set an ambitious storage target of 1,500 megawatts by 2025. California, Utah, Oregon, and Massachusetts currently have energy storage mandates, PV Magazine’s Tim Sylvia points out.
Solar-plus-storage helps reduce energy bills and improves the value of renewable energy to the grid, according to the governor’s office. Paired solar and storage systems can also lower costs by taking advantage of expiring federal tax credits, combining the permitting and interconnection processes, and utilizing less space by co-locating on the same sites.
Investments like the $40 million announced this week ensure that New York remains at the forefront of the global fight against climate change, the governor said.
“This funding will accelerate the deployment of at least 50 megawatts of energy storage paired with solar, and reduce barriers to deployment of this clean energy technology associated with customer acquisition, siting, and interconnection,” according to the governor’s office.
