New York State is making $40 million available to support solar projects in St. Lawrence County and across the state that integrate energy storage and accelerate progress toward the state’s energy storage target of 1,500-megawatts by 2025.

These projects will build toward Gov. Andrew Cuomo's stated goal that 50 percent of the state's electricity come from renewable sources by 2030 to combat climate change and build a cleaner, more resilient and affordable energy system, the governor’s office said.

The NY-Sun program is making $40 million available for the development of solar-plus-storage projects. This funding is aimed at speeding up the deployment of at least 50 megawatts of energy storage paired with solar, and reducing barriers to deployment associated with customer acquisition, siting, and interconnection.

“By offering a new incentive for solar-plus-storage projects for the commercial and industrial sectors, including so-called community solar gardens, the storage component will ensure that renewable energy is shifted to times of highest customer usage, such as afternoon hours on summer days. Solar-plus-storage helps reduce consumer energy bills and improves the value of renewable energy to the grid. In addition, paired solar and storage systems can deliver lower costs to consumers by taking advantage of expiring federal tax credits, combining the permitting and interconnection processes, and utilizing less space by co-locating on the same sites,” a release from Cuomo’s office said.

NYSERDA will be performing outreach to communities where projects are proposed and will be providing technical resources, including adding an energy storage chapter to the solar guidebook for communities.