New York”™s nascent solar industry was again thwarted by legislative inaction and utility opposition, thus delaying the creation of thousands of jobs, according to the New York Solar Energy Industry Association.
New Jersey installs more solar power equipment in a month than New York does in an entire year, and the gap is increasing, according to NYSEIA figures. But a bipartisan-supported bill that would have jumpstarted New York”™s solar business was victimized by state government dysfunction and last-minute opposition from the state”™s utilities and was not brought up for a vote this session.
NYSEIA officials hope to be able to get the New York Solar Jobs and Development Act passed next session. Meanwhile, as solar-related businesses make decisions where to locate, they will not come to New York when neighboring states are doing much more in promoting solar power and related jobs, the group said.
The solar legislation, S-7093a and A11004, would create 20,000 jobs and about $20 billion in economic activity in the state, proponents of the law said. The bills call for establishing a program to develop 5,000 megawatts of solar power capacity in the state by 2025. Fifteen percent of that amount could come from utility-owned solar farms and the rest from a diverse array of distributed generation across commercial, industrial, municipal and residential settings.
New York”™s current commitment to solar is less than 500 megawatts through 2015 using the Renewable Portfolio Standard that mandates a certain segment of the state power supply uses renewable sources and solar initiatives implemented by the New York Power Authority (NYPA) and the Long Island Power Authority (LIPA).  By comparison, Indian Point nuclear generating station produces 2,000 megawatts at full power.
New Jersey”™s solar commitment is 4,600 megawatts through 2024. But for now, New York is stuck on 500 megawatts as a target.
“The main reason the bill failed is the same reason countless other worthwhile legislation initiatives didn”™t pass; the dysfunction in state government,” said Jackson Morris, senior policy adviser for the Pace Energy and Climate Center of Pace Law School. He said the budget battle drew so much energy from Gov. David Paterson and the Legislature that complex bills were simply “shunted aside.”
Even so, he said, based on support from both sides of the political aisle, the Solar Jobs and Development Act had 28 Senate co-sponsors and easily passed the Assembly energy committee, but never was brought to the floor of either chamber.
Central Hudson, Consolidated Edison, Orange & Rockland, Rochester Gas and Electric, and New York State Electric and Gas officially opposed the legislation in a June 18 joint memorandum of opposition
The memo stated their opposition stemmed from concerns the mandates in the bill would increase costs and strain the state”™s regulatory bureaucracy.
Morris said that the utilities were included in discussions on the bill and seemed to accept it, only to suddenly express opposition late in the session. He said the figures they posited regarding the costs of the bill were not based on current data and not substantiated in the memo of opposition.
