Governor Hochul Announces Four Gigawatts of Distributed Solar Installed in New York

New York Governor Kathy Hochul this week announced four gigawatts of distributed solar—community, residential, small commercial and industrial projects—have been installed across the state, enough to power more than 710,000 homes, underscoring New York's leadership in growing one of the strongest solar markets in the nation. Since the launch of the NY-Sun initiative, the cost of solar in New York has declined by 70 percent as solar deployment has grown nearly 2,900 percent statewide, all while helping to drive $6.4 billion in private investment and foster more than 12,000 jobs across the state. 

When combined with the projects that are under development and moving toward commercial operation, achieving this milestone puts New York on track to exceed its goal to install six gigawatts of distributed solar by 2025 and progress toward 10 gigawatts by 2030. Governor Hochul was joined by U.S. Climate Alliance leaders to make the historic announcement from the roof of the Javits Center, where they applauded progress in the installation of the largest single-rooftop solar array in Manhattan. View a video of the installation overview here.  View a time-lapse video of the installation here.  

"We are laser-focused on the battle against climate change, and our nation-leading advancement of renewable energy is supercharging New York's economy while creating an equitable and healthier future for all New Yorkers," Governor Hochul said. "This achievement is a testament to our successful partnership with communities and industry alike to get these projects built in every corner of the state and ensures more families and businesses will benefit from clean affordable solar power for years to come. I am proud to make today's announcement from the Javits Center, which is now home to Manhattan's largest single-rooftop solar array with an accompanying battery storage system and is setting an example for other urban commercial buildings of how to be on the cutting-edge of our clean energy future."

New York's progress from three to four gigawatts of distributed solar installations across the state was the fastest gigawatt-to-gigawatt increase to date, taking just more than a year to achieve. It has been grounded in the state's productivity coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic—with more than 1,200 megawatts of capacity installed through the first half of 2022, enough to power nearly 217,000 homes. The majority of the new distributed solar has been supported with more than $289 million in NY-Sun incentives that leveraged $1.5 billion in private investment.

The 1,400 solar panels on the Javits Center's green roof, which also serves as a habitat for area wildlife, will be supplemented by a 3.5-megawatt battery storage system. The project is the result of a public-private partnership between the Javits Center, the New York Power Authority (NYPA), and Siemens Industry, Inc. The system is the largest single rooftop solar project and will include one of the highest-capacity battery energy storage systems in Manhattan. The completion of the solar installation also coincides with the resurgence of event activity at the Javits Center following the height of the pandemic, when it served as an emergency field hospital that treated nearly 1,100 New Yorkers, and then as the largest vaccination site in the United States that distributed more than 646,000 vaccines to New Yorkers in less than six months. 

_{Source: New York State Energy Research and Development Authority}

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