New York soaks up solar energy boom
Governor looks to extend renewable initiative to 2023
NEW YORK // On a rooftop in the Bronx far from the skyscrapers of Manhattan, 4,760 panels soak up the winter rays. Welcome to the solar power boom in New York state.
Robert Kline, the director of commercial sales for the Ross Solar Group that installed the panels, is delighted. “It is the largest [solar] installation in the history of New York City,” he said.
The 1.6-megawatt installation on the Jetro Cash and Carry has been proudly singled out by the New York governor, Andrew Cuomo, as a prime example of a drive to haul the state into a new dawn.
New York has long lagged behind California and even neighbouring states, let alone Europe, when it comes to generating solar energy, but that is slowly changing. In 2012, Mr Cuomo set up the public- private NY- Sun Initiative with US$800 million (Dh2.94 billion), and 300 megawatts of solar capacity have since been installed in the state, more than during the previous 10 years. Mr Cuomo now wants to extend the programme until 2023 with an additional investment of about about $1bn to generate another 3,000 megawatts.
Experts say that would create 13,000 jobs and lower greenhouse emissions by 2.3 million tonnes a year.
California and Arizona are home to more than 80 per cent of solar installations in the United States, but Cory Honeyman, a solar analyst at GTM Research, said New York was coming into its own.
In the Bronx, one of them, On-Force Solar, saw its revenue triple last year and it was hoping to double it again this year, said its chief executive officer, Charles Feit.
Mr Feit said he had been hiring more staff every year since he started and that it was the economic argument that was driving business home.