New York celebrates its top spot in U.S. community solar
New York Governor Kathy Hochul took time this week to shout out New York’s spot atop the community solar leaderboard in the United States. New York now has more than 1 GW of community solar installed and operational – enough to serve 209,000 homes across the state.
“Reaching this nation-leading milestone – with more than one gigawatt of community solar installed – is a testament to New York’s aggressive pursuit of clean-energy alternatives that will supercharge our economy and bring us one step closer to a carbon-neutral future,” Governor Hochul said.
Community solar made up 70 percent of total solar installations across the state in 2021. New York also has the largest pipeline in the nation with enough community solar under construction to serve an additional 401,000 homes. In addition, New York’s distributed solar pipeline is now comprised of more than 708 of these projects totaling 2.3 GW.
New York’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act goal is to generate 70 percent of the state’s electricity from renewable sources by 2030, and the governor’s goal to achieve 10 GW of solar by 2030. Currently, installed distributed solar projects, combined with the projects that are under development, bring the state to 95 percent of the current Climate Act goal to install 6 GW of distributed solar by 2025.
This celebratory announcement came in Schenectady County at a 7.5-megawatt community solar project that is paired with 10-megawatt hours of energy storage on the site of a former landfill. Located in the town of Glenville, the project was developed by DSD Renewables, who is also the owner and operator of the project. The site is part of a seven-project, 25-megawatt portfolio made possible through a collaboration with the Schenectady County Solar Energy Consortium that provides over $400,000 in energy savings annually to the municipalities and cities of Schenectady County and enables each of the municipalities to be powered by 100 percent renewable energy.
“We are really proud of the Schenectady portfolio and the innovation we were able to bring to it, and the fact it’s in the backyard of our headquarters is a major highlight,” said CEO of DSD Renewables Erik Schiemann. “However, it’s working with partners like NYSERDA and our neighbors and stakeholders in the communities in which we live and work across New York that motivates DSD to continue to do our part in accelerating the state’s Climate Act initiative.”
The achievement of this milestone has been underpinned by support from NYSERDA’s NY-Sun program, the State’s signature $1.8 billion initiative to advance the scale-up of solar while driving costs down and making solar energy more accessible to homes, businesses, and communities.
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