The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) announced the availability of details for nearly 10,000 solar projects that have participated in NYSERDA’s open enrollment solar incentive programs over the past 10 years, including the large ramp-up of solar under NY-Sun. The data are publicly available on Open NY, Governor Andrew Cuomo’s comprehensive open data portal. This information is one part of NYSERDA’s strategy to support private sector scale-up of a sustainable solar industry driven by market forces rather than by government subsidies.  
 
Companies in the solar industry frequently request this type of data from NYSERDA. They use it to see which areas of the state to target based on where there is room for growth and expansion. In addition, the New York Independent System Operator (NYISO) can use the data to see the impact of solar on the grid by geographic area, solar product manufacturers can use it to understand their market share in the state, and academic researchers can use it for analyses.
 
“Information about solar installations can be extremely valuable to prospective customers and to solar installers and the solar industry seeking to grow their businesses,” said John B. Rhodes, President and CEO, NYSERDA. “Given the State’s commitment to scaling up its solar industry under Governor Cuomo’s NY-Sun Initiative and its strategy to reduce solar subsidies over time, we are now making this information available to the public electronically through Open NY.”
 
The data set is available at https://data.ny.gov/d/3x8r-34rs and is called Solar Photovoltaic (PV) Incentive Program. Included in the data set are project applications and installations between 2003 and 2014 through NYSERDA’s open enrollment solar PV programs, which provide incentives to help reduce the installed cost of residential PV systems of up to 25 kilowatts and non-residential systems of up to 200 kilowatts.
 
NYSERDA has also included on the Open NY site a map of installation locations and a stacked bar graph of megawatts installed by sector by county.
 
NY-Sun is a dynamic public-private partnership that is driving growth of the solar industry and making solar technology more affordable for all New Yorkers. Since Governor Cuomo launched NY-Sun in 2012, a total of 316 megawatts of solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity has been installed or is under contract, more than was installed in the entire prior decade. Recently, funding of nearly $1 billion was authorized through 2023 to meet a statewide target of 3 gigawatts of installed capacity.
 
Open NY, created as a result of the Governor’s call for government transparency under Executive Order 95, provides - for the first time - user-friendly, one-stop access to data from New York State agencies, localities and the federal government.

With this initiative, New York’s role as a leader and first mover in shaping the future of energy remains firmly in place. By developing innovative market solutions, the State is delivering on Governor Cuomo’s commitment to transform the energy industry into a more resilient, clean, cost-effective and dynamic system. Working with State, citizen and industry stakeholders, New York’s energy policy is moving to a more market-based, decentralized approach. This means preserving the environment, decreasing energy costs, and creating opportunities for economic growth for current and future generations of New Yorkers. In advancing these new energy systems and solutions, New Yorkers will have improved energy affordability and efficiency without sacrificing the ability to live in a cleaner, resilient and more sustainable environment.

NYSERDA
http://nyserda.ny.gov