Dive Brief:

The mayor of New York City has announced the city’s first ever solar-plus-storage target: 100 MWh by 2020, PV Tech reports.

The aim of the target is to help make renewable energy sources such as solar power usable for greater parts of the day and increase the city’s resiliency.

New York City has a goal of reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2050; as part of that plan the mayor’s office has committed to install 100 MW of solar power on public buildings and 250 MW on private buildings by 2025.

Dive Insight:

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is trying to build on the city’s renewable momentum. He noted that solar capacity in the city has nearly quadrupled since the start of his administration, with 96 MW coming from solar power compared with 25 MW at the beginning of his term.

De Blasio said the city is on track to meet its goals of installing 100 MW of solar power on public buildings and 250 MW on private buildings by 2025.

“This rapid progress has inspired us to expand that goal to 1,000 MW of solar power citywide” by 2030, the mayor said in a statement.

He also committed to identify and remove barriers to solar adoption in order to meet that goal, including the city’s first every energy storage target. The mayor also said he would work to identify areas for community shared solar installations that would enable renters to adopt solar power.

As part of that effort, the city also expanded funding for Solarize NYC, which is designed to increase access to solar power through community group purchasing campaigns over the next nine years. The program is expected to lower costs by 10% to 20% and increase solar capacity in communities that have historically had limited access to solar.