New York state is providing $40m in financial support for solar projects that include energy storage facilities.
Governor Andrew Cuomo (pictured) announced the funding, which is part of the NY-Sun programme, to help accelerate the US state’s progress towards a 1.5GW storage target by 2025.
The money is expected to boost the deployment of at least 50MW of energy storage paired with solar and also help reduce barriers associated with customer acquisition, siting and interconnection.
Cuomo said: “As we continue our aggressive pursuit of clean, renewable technologies, funding for projects like this will ensure New York remains at the forefront of the global fight against climate change.
“The strategic pairing of energy storage and solar technologies moves us closer to building a clean energy economy that protects critical natural resources and benefits all New Yorkers.”
The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) is also providing outreach to communities where projects are proposed to help inform people of the benefits of co-locating storage with solar systems.
NYSERDA president and chief executive Alicia Barton said: “Since its inception, NY-Sun has advanced and completed thousands of projects across the state, bringing us closer to meeting New York’s renewable energy goals by 2030.
“By pairing solar and storage projects the state will accelerate our pace of progress towards Governor Cuomo’s aggressive renewable energy and energy storage targets at even lower costs.”
NY-Sun is a $1bn investment programme established by the governor to build a self-sustaining solar market in New York state.
It has already completed 85,327 solar projects with a total capacity of 1203.2MW.