New York is not drilling shale gas wells, but it is going big into solar. In his budget address, Governor Cuomo announced a $1 billion boost for the NY-Sun Initiative.
http://tinyurl.com/p54ldyf.
The $1 billion investment will be made over ten years and will build 3,000 megawatts of new solar capacity. That works out to a state subsidy of about 33 cents per watt or about 10% of the national average installed cost for solar in 2013.
Even as recently as 2010, a state subsidy of 33 cents per watt would have hardly made a difference to demand, because the total installed cost was about $6 per watt. Yet, in the last 3 years, the price of solar has fallen rapidly and now a subsidy of 33 cents per watt will spur demand.
Governor Cuomo's $1 billion solar program is a big deal and yet one more reason why the EIA 2040 solar capacity forecast is way, way, way off!
As New York bets on solar, here is another question: which state has produced more jobs since 2011--New York or Pennsylvania?
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