New York State has installed a total of 314.48 MW of solar electricity as of December 2014, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced. This represents an increase of more than 300 percent since 2011 — twice the rate of US solar growth overall.
Solar capacity tripled, quadrupled or quintupled in every region of the state other than Long Island, which has more installations than any other region. In addition, numbers of projects at least doubled in every region. The largest increase in percentage of megawatts was in the North Country, followed by the Finger Lakes, Central New York and New York City.
As of May 2015, more than 304 MW of solar photovoltaic was under contract but not yet installed, with an additional 65.6 MW of applications accepted but not yet contracted.
The substantial growth is attributed to the NY-Sun initiative, a decline in solar electric component prices, and the growth in the number of installer businesses marketing solar electric directly to consumers.
The $1 billion NY-Sun initiative part of the Governor’s Reforming the Energy Vision. A pillar of the Vision is the proposed Clean Energy Fund, a $5 billion investment over the next ten years in clean energy programs.
According to the Solar Energy Industries Association, New York State ranked 7th in the country for installed photovoltaic capacity in 2014, up from 9th in 2013.
