By Jack Gorman, Member of JCAN NYC Steering Committee and Co-Chair JCAN NYC Advocacy Team
One of the most important things we can do in New York State and throughout the world is increase the availability of affordable and reliable solar energy to homes and businesses. To do this, we will need to enact measures that make building solar energy fields and connecting to solar energy sources practical and efficient. Solar energy can be accomplished in several ways. We are all familiar with the large-scale solar fields that generate electricity that is pumped into the electricity grid to power towns and cities. Smaller solar fields can also be placed in communities closer to where the electricity will be used, called “community solar.” Another type of solar energy is called “distributed solar,” which includes more local solar energy sources such as roof-top solar and placing solar energy units on balconies. All of these are important in increasing this vitally necessary source of sustainable energy that is proving less expensive and easier to build than fossil fuel energy sources.
Following our discussion with Michael Richardson, New York state climate activist and leader. at our November JCAN NYC general meeting, Michael provided us with a list of five bills currently pending in the New York State legislature that would go a long way to expanding development of and access to solar energy throughout our state. These bills are:
Accelerate Solar for Affordable Power Act (ASAP Act) (S6570/A8758)—raises distributed solar capacity goal to 20 GW by 2035 and includes multiple other provisions to make creating solar energy sources in New York more practical and efficient. This bill could save ratepayers billions of dollars and would create thousands of new, green jobs.
Resident Automated Solar Permitting (S5781A/A6270A) —requires municipalities with population over 5000 to implement automatic online permitting for solar systems. This would make it faster and cheaper for homeowners to install solar panels.
Community SOLAR Act (S8119/A9087)—shortens permitting timelines and lowers costs for community solar project development. This will help make solar energy available at reasonable costs for people who cannot place solar panels on their own homes and will create more local jobs.
SUNNY Act (S8512/A9111) --Solar Up Now New York Act exempts small-scale balcony or plug-in solar from interconnection and net metering requirements and prohibits utilities from requiring customers to obtain approval for using such a device or paying any related fee. This will remove barriers and red tape from installing small, plug-in or balcony solar units, making it much easier for people to install balcony solar in their homes.
NYS Residential Solar Tax Credits (S2626/A1373)--Increases the maximum residential solar tax credit from $5,000 to $10,000 and expands credit eligibility to include battery storage systems.
On the recommendation of JCAN NYC’s Advocacy Team, JCAN NYC supports passage of these five bills, which we call the “Residential and Community Solar Energy Package” during the 2025-2026 legislative session.