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Albany to spend $40 million on solar energy projects

Posted at 6:01 AM, Oct 15, 2018
and last updated 2018-10-15 06:01:57-04

New York is putting up $40 million to support solar projects that include energy storage.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has announced that the NY-Sun program will make the money available in early November to jumpstart the development of at least 50 megawatts of energy storage paired with solar. NY-Sun is Cuomo's $1 billion investment to build the state's solar industry.

The Democratic governor has set a target of 1,500 megawatts of energy storage by 2025. That's equivalent to the electric demand of one-fifth of all New York state homes.

Renewable sources like wind and solar generate energy only when the wind is blowing or the sun shining. Adding storage such as battery banks allow excess energy to be stored for release during peak demand. Storage also reduces the impact of outages.