Sun City

New York City has made recent strides to ease the financial burden of installing a solar system. One of the major initiatives of Mayor Bloomberg’s second term has been PlaNYC, a project involving multiple city agencies that looks to promote long-term sustainability efforts across many fronts. Part of that plan entails fostering the solar energy market in the city. By 2030, PlaNYC’s goal is to produce 600 megawatts of electricity through all types of renewable energy, including solar, wind, and others.

First off, the plan calls for property tax abatements for those that install PV panels on their homes or businesses, a proposal which received approval from the State Assembly in June. Next, PlaNYC calls for an RFP (request for proposal) from private solar developers to install 2 megawatts of solar power. These private companies will build, own and operate solar systems on city buildings and then sell the electricity to the city. In April, Bloomberg announced eleven potential sites for these installations, including five schools and a community college.

“It’s primarily to test the process,” Jim Gallagher, senior vice-president for energy and telecommunications of the Economic Development Corporation, said of the RFP. The EDC oversees energy policy in New York City; Gallagher described the EDC’s plan for solar at a City Council hearing in February. “We do hope that whatever we do with this program it will serve as a model down the road.”

Considering that the potential for solar in the city is estimated at between 6,000 and 15,000 megawatts, these goals seem rather modest. But, members of the solar community say it is a good start.

“We said that already is a pretty ambitious goal given that the city has like what, point whatever percent of solar versus how much is actually feasible,” said former energy consultant Ettenson. The mayor’s PlaNYC is based in part on the CUNY report that Ettenson co-authored. As of December 2007 there were 1.5 megawatts of PV installed in the city. New York City’s total energy usage measures in the thousands of megawatts, so the percentage of electricity gained from solar power is effectively zero.

Others acknowledge the mayor’s modest goals reflect realistic expectations of the priority of solar compared with other issues. “You’re the mayor, you’re the City Council representative voting on the budget,” said Stephen Hammer, director of the Urban Energy Program at Columbia University. “Do you want to spend more money on solar power or do you believe that libraries should stay open longer? Do you believe that public hospitals should receive more funding to provide different kinds of services to underserved neighborhoods right now? Is this the most important thing in the world, that you have solar on buildings in New York City?”

While that may be the case, other places have put a much higher priority on investing in PV. During a presentation for community members about a new advocacy campaign at the headquarters of Solar One, a community education organization, in January, outreach coordinator Chris Neidl highlighted several places that have made solar work in a big way. According to Neidl, Japan started a PV incentives program in 1998 and now the price of solar is equal to or less than the cost of traditional electricity sources—without government incentives paying for part of the cost.

Germany also has made great strides in promoting solar, so much so that the country recently caused a worldwide silicon shortage. “Germany, which has more than five times the installed solar capacity as the United States…and has just slightly more than a quarter of our population, also has the average sunlight of Seattle,” said Neidl. “So certainly if they can do it, then we can give it a go as well.”

In the absence of extensive federal solar policies here in the U.S., individual states have created their own. In 2006, California launched its Million Solar Roofs program, which aims to add 3,000 megawatts of solar to the state by 2017. The program will cost over $2 billion. Neidl said estimates have been made that if New York wanted to match California’s funding it could be done by charging all ratepayers about $15 a year.

California’s program is probably the best in the country for solar, but New York has some competition much closer to home.

“New Jersey’s the next best state,” said Buckner.

From 2003 to 2006, New Jersey’s funding for solar totaled $100 million and led to the installation of 5.4 megawatts of PV. In comparison, New York’s incentives funding for 2006 to 2009 is $13.8 million. New York, with more than double the population of New Jersey, has a little less than 2 megawatts of PV installed currently.

New Jersey also allowed net metering for solar systems up to 2 megawatts from its inception. “They are often considered to have the best net metering policy in the country, and they’re just right next door,” said Neidl.

At the end of his presentation, Neidl brought up a quotation attributed to Thomas Edison which says, “I’d put my money on the sun and solar energy. What a source of power! I hope we don’t have to wait until oil and coal run out before we tackle that.”

“What I think is really significant about Edison’s story is where, the context in which he succeeded, and that was New York City,” said Neidl. “The first power plant was down on Pearl Street (The power plant was designed and built by Edison. –ed.). . And that wasn’t by coincidence. That was a period of time when the only place you could actually get the investors and the daring to actually try something out that was so unprecedented was a place like New York City. So I like to think that we can summon a little bit of that spirit that made electricity possible in New York City over a hundred years ago when we actually fight for more solar here in New York.”

Others agree that there is no reason for New York to lag behind other places when it comes to solar.

“There are 860,000 buildings in New York City,” said Klein. “There are a lot of building owners and there are a lot of good rooftops and we really should be the leader in the United States, not the follower.”