RAISING NEW YORK'S DISTRIBUTED SOLAR GOAL

A policy roadmap for New York’s solar-powered future

Rooftop and community solar powers New York

New York has installed nearly six gigawatts of rooftop and community solar to date, enough to power one million New York homes. Utility-scale projects are larger, but they’ve proven difficult to finance and construct. In New York, small is big — 93% of New York’s installed solar capacity is rooftop and community solar, and the majority of New York’s 13,400 workforce are in the distributed solar industry.

Meeting New York’s ambitious clean energy mandates

In 2019, New York enacted the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA): a policy that requires powering the grid with 70% renewable energy by 2030 and 100% emissions-free energy resources by 2040 while delivering 40% of the utility bill savings and other benefits to disadvantaged communities. Based on recent setbacks for utility-scale renewable energy projects, New York has a gap to close. Rooftop and community solar are already being deployed at scale and can play a central role in closing the gap.

Raising the bar: 20 Gigawatts by 2035

A growing coalition of clean energy advocates is calling for New York’s leaders to double New York’s distributed solar goal from 10 gigawatts by 2030 to 20 gigawatts by 2035. New York has a successful track record of rapidly deploying rooftop and community solar, and these systems are uniquely capable of delivering direct utility bill savings to low-income families and renters.

New York Needs a 20-Gigawatt Roadmap

While distributed solar is currently being deployed at a rapid pace, achieving 20X35 will require policy intervention to address permitting, interconnection and economic barriers to distributed solar deployment. 20 Gigawatts by 2035: Raising New York’s Distributed Solar Goal details these regulatory and legislative policy proposals and calls for bold action to support near-term progress toward New York’s ambitious CLCPA requirements.

Benefits of 20X35

$50 billion

in direct electric bill savings for New Yorkers and $28 billion in indirect savings through wholesale market impacts

$3-4 billion

in revenue for rural landowners, municipalities and school districts

145 million

metric tons of avoided greenhouse gas emissions and improved public health outcomes in environmental justice communities

15,000 jobs

including blue collar and white collar jobs across the state

Improved land use

through community-scale projects and beneficial siting practices, including solar on the built environment and the co-location of solar and agriculture

INDUSTRY

Our
Partners

20X35 is supported by a growing coalition of diverse organizations that want New York to reach its nation-leading clean energy and equity goals.

Why distributed solar?

Rooftop and community ("distributed") solar provide important benefits to New Yorkers. Every distributed solar project provides direct utility bill savings to New York homes and businesses, including low-income families and renters. Distributed solar projects generate meaningful revenue for rural landowners and local governments, and these projects can be sited on the built environment or co-located with agriculture to minimize land use impacts. In New York, small is big – distributed solar makes up 93% of New York's installed solar capacity, and local businesses and workers have a proven track record of deploying distributed solar quickly, cost-effectively and at-scale.