There were 5,542 solar panel arrays installed in Westchester County and New York City during 2020, according to a report from Con Edison.
New installations helped push the county to the top of the pack in terms of solar electric generation in the areas served by the utility. Additional 2020 installations brought to 7,341 the total number of solar arrays in service in Westchester.
Con Ed reported that in its New York City and Westchester service area there were a total of 35,712 solar arrays capable of producing 322.2 megawatts of electricity. A megawatt is 1 million watts of electricity, enough to light 10,000 100-watt light bulbs.
Con Ed said that solar panels in use in Westchester can produce 83.75 megawatts of electricity, slightly more than the 83.01 megawatts that can be produced by solar arrays in second-place Queens and dramatically more than the 7.27 megawatts of electricity created by solar generation in Manhattan.
“The pandemic caused a pause in construction and the recession created apprehension among people who wanted to invest in their homes and businesses,” said Lenny Singh, Con Edison’s senior vice president for customer energy solutions. “But it’s a tribute to our customers that they continued to choose clean, renewable solar energy. Our customers are our greatest asset as we seek to lead our state and region toward a clean energy future.”
Con Edison said solar projects avoid 300,000 tons of carbon emissions, which it described as the amount of greenhouse gas emissions produced by more than 64,000 cars. The utility also said the solar panels its customers have installed have the capacity to produce enough power to run more than 4 million 42-inch LED TVs.
Con Ed calculated that a typical residential customer with a solar array producing 6,000 watts of power also generates up to $700 in annual savings on their electric bills.
The utility said it has taken a number of steps to make it easier and less expensive for customers and their installers to add solar capability, including offering a device called Smart ConnectDER (Distributed Energy Resources), which streamlines connecting to the grid and can save $1,000 in installation costs.
Con Edison serves approximately 3.5 million customers in New York City and Westchester and reports annual revenues of approximately $13 billon with assets of approximately $60 billion.
