A NYC Solar City Roadmap

The following NYC solar initiatives, programs and innovative tools are paving the way for New York City to overcome existing barriers and realize the benefits of solar. Significant financial and technical support has been provided by the U.S. Department of Energy, the New York State Energy Development Authority, the New York Power Authority, the Mayor's Office of New York City, Con Edison, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, the NYC Department of Buildings and the City Univeristy of New York. Addtional partners 

  • Solar Empowerment Zones: The NYC Solar Empowerment Zones are strategically selected geographical regions where solar power is most viable and beneficial from a technical standpoint, and where the Solar America City Partnership will focus its outreach and program development.

  • NYC Solar Map : The interactive New York City Solar Map leverages new GIS and web technologies and is a powerful, publicly-available, planning tool for New York City.

  • Data Acquisition Systems : Data Acquisition Systems report solar system production and help facilitate City and Utility planning for future solar and smart Grid applications.
  • 100 Days of Solar: Con Edison is working with the Partnership on its ‘100 Days of Solar’ along with multiple agencies such as the NYC Department of Buildings, the Fire Department of New York City and NYSERDA to streamline permitting and incentive application processes.

  • Dispatchable PV Demonstration Project: A project funded by the New York State Energy and Research Development Authority (NYSERDA), the Department of Energy and others to demonstrate a 100kW dispatchable peak-shaving PV system at LaGuardia Community College.

  • Pilot Third Party Ownership Model for Public Facilities: The City plans to issue a Request for Proposals for a third party to own, operate, and maintain 3.5MW of solar PV installed on city government facilities. The City intends to enter into a long-term PPA for the generated power.

  • Solar Deployment Analysis <pdf> : The NYC Solar City Partnership, Con Edison, and NREL collaborated to examine the technical and administrative barriers to widespread solar deployment on New York City’s electricity grid and the necessary solutions to overcome those barriers.
  • Real Time Pricing Study <pdf> : New York City completed a study to evaluate the return on investment and payback period for PV when combined with real-time electricity pricing options.
  • Integrate Solar into City Emergency Planning <pdf> : The NYC Solar City Partnership and the Mayor’s Office of Emergency Management worked with DOE contractor CH2MHill to review the City of New York’s emergency plans and determine current emergency planning strategies that would benefit from the integration of solar technologies.
  • Training the Solar Workforce : CUNY, through the Center for Sustainable Energy at the Bronx Community College, has initiated a NYSERDA-supported PV installation course on six CUNY campuses, Green Energy Training at CUNY.

  • Solar Summit : The annual Solar Summit is a conference focused on implementing solar in New York City with leaders from utilities, industry, government, and academia attending and presenting.