Sun surge: NY bursts into top 10 solar power states

Thomas C. Zambito | Rockland/Westchester Journal News

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Solar farms capable of linking thousands of customers to a shared source of renewable power contributed to New York’s emergence as one of the country’s fastest growing markets for sun-based power during the first three months of 2017, a new study shows.

New York witnessed 181 percent growth year over year in its non-residential solar power market, according to a report released Wednesday by GTM Research and the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), a solar power trade group.

The 42.2 megawatts, enough power for 7,000 homes, added during the first quarter of 2017 represented the largest quarterly increase ever in New York’s non-residential solar market, the report notes.

A flood of solar farms

So many solar farm proposals flooded into the state last year that the Public Service Commission was forced to step in after discovering that in many instances solar companies had not bothered to gain the landowner’s approval before pitching a project.

Since then, several Hudson Valley towns have enacted moratoriums on solar developments amid fears of losing productive agricultural land. Between April and December 2016, the state received some 2,000 applications for projects ranging in size from 50 kilowatts to 2 megawatts.

The report noted that, overall, New York’s solar market was among the fastest growing in the country, adding 8 percent of its total capacity in the first quarter of 2017 while securing a place among the top 10 solar-producing states, led by California, North Carolina and Arizona. The report predicts that New York will add 132 megawatts of new solar power this year.

"New York put a lot of work into the framework for a long-term solar network," said Rick Umoff, the director of state affairs for the SEIA. "What we're seeing now is the fruits of that labor taking hold."