New York state is pushing solar power hard.

The office of Gov. Kathy Hochul sent over a long press release this week announcing the state now has more than two gigawatts of solar power producers. It’s “enough to serve 393,000 homes, reaffirming the state’s position as the top community solar market in the United States,” the release declared.

“This community solar milestone contributes to five gigawatts of distributed solar operating across the state, with 3.3 gigawatts in development,” it went on. “Today’s announcement demonstrates significant progress towards achieving New York’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act goal to install six gigawatts of distributed solar by 2025, on the path to 10 gigawatts by 2030.”

The Albany PR went on to describe the concept of “community solar.” It “enables access to solar for homeowners, renters and business owners who may not have ideal conditions to directly install solar panels onsite. Through this arrangement, clean energy is still delivered by a customer’s regular electric providers, and the power produced from the solar array is fed directly back into the electric grid. As the electric grid is supplied with clean, renewable energy, subscribers receive a credit on their electric bills for their portion of the solar system’s output.”

According to the state, “New York’s distributed solar pipeline is now comprised of more than 8,700 projects, which once completed will provide 3,297 megawatts of clean energy, enough to power more than 600,000 New York homes.”

The release also touted a Wood Mackenzie Solar Market Insight quarterly report ranking New York as the all-time national leader in installed community solar, No. 1 in 2023 for community solar installations, No. 2 in overall distributed solar and ranked fifth for residential solar.

The Democrats running Albany, led by Hochul and her administration, are intent on getting behind solar power – and a deep partnership with utility companies underscores that.

Part of the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority’s website touts “NY-Sun, a dynamic public-private partnership, (which) will drive growth in the solar industry and make solar technology more affordable for all New Yorkers.

“NY-Sun brings together and expands existing programs administered by NYSERDA, Long Island Power Authority (LIPA), PSEG Long Island, and the New York Power Authority (NYPA), to ensure a coordinated, well-supported solar energy expansion plan and a transition to a sustainable, self-sufficient solar industry,” according to the website.

A large solar project is coming to rural Tompkins County. The Ithaca Times reported, “At 160 megawatts and an estimated cost of about $200 million, the Yellow Barn Solar facility that will gobble up roughly 850 acres of land between the towns of Groton and Lansing… will be one of the largest solar installations ever constructed in New York State. About 165 acres of the facility will be located in Lansing, with the remaining 686 acres in Groton. The project is being developed by CS Energy, a green energy firm based out of New Jersey that is owned by private equity firm American Securities.”

The Times reported, “The project is scheduled to begin the first phase of construction in late 2024 or early 2025 and will be completed sometime in 2026. The gargantuan facility is expected to generate enough clean renewable electricity each year to power approximately 35,000 households.”

Meanwhile in Chautauqua County, things are apparently going in a different direction, after the county Industrial Agency announced earlier this year it would no longer approve Payments In Lieu of Taxes (PILOTs) for solar projects.

During a county IDA Board of Directors meeting, Mark Geise, the chief executive officer of the IDA, stated they were cutting back for future PILOT agreements. “We talked about this and we all agreed that it’s time for us to pump the brakes on taking any new solar project applications,” he said.

As of March, the county IDA had already approved 21 solar projects for tax breaks. The biggest one is the 270 megawatt solar project in south Ripley. The remaining 20 solar projects are all 5 megawatt or smaller and total 111.75 megawatts combined.

Geise said in March the IDA wants to see the approved projects move forward before adding any new ones. “Of the 21 we’ve approved, we’ve closed on four, so let’s get more of those closed,” he said.