September 3, 2019
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Green New Deal is a nation-leading clean energy deal. This puts New York on one of the most rigorous paths towards a future entirely sustained by clean energy. Advancements toward 3,000 megawatts of energy storage has also been a big focus within this new deal.
Long Island residential and commercial energy storage projects will receive $55 million in incentives. Governor Cuomo announced that this program will be launched with initial outputs of $15 million in incentives from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA). These incentives will allow Long Island to progress immensely in terms of energy storage, while also helping New York achieve its goal of 3,000 megawatts of energy storage by 2030. This goal is equivalent to powering forty percent of the homes in New York. This announcement by Governor Cuomo will help New York lead the clean energy industry and allow for the development of clean energy jobs in New York.
Governor Cuomo states that “with our nation's leading clean energy goals and aggressive strategy to combat climate change, New York continues to set an example of climate leadership for other states across the country.” He also later explains that these incentives will help Long Island grow a clean energy economy and create jobs, while also improving the resiliency of the grid in the face of even more extreme weather events.
The $15 million incentive from NYSERDA’s Retail Energy Storage Incentive Program is immediately available for residential and commercial projects. The remainder of the $55 million available from Governor Cuomo’s announcement will be allocated within the next three to five years to help drive down costs and scale up the market for clean energy technology. The incentives announced today will support energy storage installed at customer sites or systems paired with solar.
As New York is avidly trying to combat climate change and transform the grid, Long Island will help play an important role in the future of energy. These incentives for energy storage projects will complement wind and solar investments, allowing New York to hit its clean energy target. As the use of renewable energy resources like wind and solar increase across the state, energy storage helps to create a more efficient electricity grid. This will maximize the benefits of these renewable energy resources. With the help of energy storage systems, New York will be able to meet peak power needs and lessen the reliance on older fossil fuel generating plants that cause carbon dioxide emissions.
The funding announced will go into two categories:
Commercial Incentives
The Retail Energy Storage Incentive Program by NYSERDA will help new grid-connected energy storage systems that have up to five megawatts of alternating current connection that is located either behind-the-meter or connected directly to the distribution system. In the first block incentive, $250 will be offered per kilowatt hour (kWh) of energy storage installed. Chemical, thermal, or mechanical systems are all seen as eligible energy storage systems to receive compensation under the Public Service Electric and Gas Long Island (PSEG-LI) tariff or load relief program. Energy storage systems that are eligible may be installed alone or paired with on site generation like solar.
Residential Incentives
Both NYSERDA and PSEG-LI are launching a residential solar-plus-energy storage program which helps new programs on Long Island with an upfront storage incentive. So solar projects are able to receive incentives if they want energy storage on their property. Residential customers can receive upfront storage incentives through the PSEG-LI Dynamic Load Management (DLM) tariff and the NYSERDA NY-Sun Program. The DLM tariff pays customers who want to reduce the amount of electricity used from the electric grid. NY-Sun will release two incentive blocks for new residential solar-plus-storage systems starting at $250 per kWh and then decreasing the incentive to $200 per kWh in the second block.
As the popularity of renewable resources increases throughout the nation, energy storage will help improve the efficiency of the grid. Storing excess electricity produced by sources like wind and solar will help provide residents and businesses with cleaner, more reliable energy systems. Long Island will play a significant role in putting New York closer to its aggressive goal of 3,000 megawatts of energy storage by 2030.
Incentives towards projects that are paired with solar and energy storage will help drive down the cost of materials. This will allow customers to see how decarbonizing the grid will help with the reliability of energy throughout New York. In Long Island, there are currently 48,500 solar projects totalling more than 365 megawatts. With the help of solar and energy storage, this will further transform the clean energy market in Long Island.
Creating a carbon-free economy will help all of New York by providing a cleaner environment. These bold, aggressive actions will help protect the planet by providing incentives for people to afford renewable resources as well as battery storage. Incentivizing energy storage projects will be a major step in developing renewable resource capacity.
To learn more about solar incentives, or pursue your own solar installation, please contact YSG solar today at 212.389.9215.
By Kasey Liu
Sources:
https://www.nyserda.ny.gov/All-Programs/Programs/NY-Sun/Contractors/Long-Island-Incentives