New York City has large potential for solar energy, report notes
NEW YORK, New York, February 21, 2007. The unique infrastructure of New York City, combined with its high energy prices and enormous energy consumption, “have created a substantial opportunity for large-scale solar energy development.”
The PV market in NYC “faces a set of barriers to continued expansion,” says the Center for Sustainable Energy at Bronx Community College. Municipal, state and national PV markets around the world are projected to continue their rapid growth but the barriers in the largest U.S. city include “technical uncertainty surrounding interconnection and the lack of incentives for large commercial systems.”
“Some of the barriers, such as the lack of funds under RPS and the new code requirements, are challenges that have emerged only recently,” it explains in a document prepared for CUNY’s (City University of New York) Million Solar Roofs Initiative. “While resolving these barriers will require significant effort, none of them are intractable.”
The report was developed under a collaborative stakeholder process which is “a successful model to build on,” it adds. “In moving forward, New York City stakeholders should continue to work together to prioritize the policy recommendations outlined above and develop concrete strategies for implementing those deemed most effective.”
“During the next several years, New York City will have an opportunity to ‘think big and plan bigger’ with regard to solar energy and to work with local and state stakeholders to move rapidly toward a solar energy future,” it concludes. Solar could supply 10% of the city’s power by 2030 if different levels of government find new sources of funding and incentives.
CUNY started its Million Solar Roofs Initiative with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Million Solar Roofs program in 2005, and set a target to install 500 solar roofs in NYC by 2010. To meet this target, CUNY planned an outreach and education campaign that includes an assessment of the solar energy market, identification of barriers to solar energy development, and facilitation of solar projects throughout the city. The Initiative is managed by the Center for Sustainable Energy at Bronx Community College.
NYC “could meet a significant percentage of its future energy needs using solar power,” and solar energy development has been promoted as a strategy for mitigating rising fuel prices, blackouts, air pollution, environmental justice concerns and climate change, it adds. At the end of 2005, there were 45 solar PV systems in NYC’s five boroughs, with total capacity of 1.1 MW and supplying 0.002% of the city’s electricity.
The technical potential for PV within the city has been estimated at 6,000 to 15,000 MW.
It is the second of a two-part study of solar energy in NYC; the first identified the size and recent growth of the city’s solar energy market. The primary purpose of the second study is to identify the policies and barriers that shape NYC’s solar energy market and discuss the potential for future market growth.
“Although the range of policies that have supported NYC’s market is impressive, it is doubtful that the current policy mix will be sufficient to sustain market growth” due to insufficient funds, rising costs, technical barriers and inadequate policy mix. With passage of the state’s Renewable Portfolio Standard, allocated funding for PV will be US$13.8 million through 2009.
“If it is assumed that market growth will be driven primarily by the RPS, this funding will not be sufficient to sustain market growth at 25% annually (the low growth scenario projected in Part I of this study),” it adds. “This is true even under the optimistic assumption that NYC will receive the entire $13.8 million of the RPS funds.”
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