The New York Solar Industry Development and Jobs Act of 2010 (S.7093a/A.11004) would create thousands of green jobs and billions of dollars in economic output for the state, according to a new report from solar advocacy group Vote Solar. A coalition of organizations – including Vote Solar, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Solar Alliance, the Apollo Alliance, and the Alliance for Clean Energy New York – are urging state legislators to approve the bill.
The legislation requires each New York retail electric supplier, the New York Power Authority and the Long Island Power Authority to annually procure a certain amount of solar electricity, which represents a gradually increasing percentage of their sales through 2025.
Scaled statewide, this amounts to about 5,000 MW of solar energy over the course of the program. The bill also supports a range of business models, developers, and system sizes so that industry growth can occur in all market segments. The combination of long-term market certainty and competitive pressures will lead to significant solar development at the least cost to the energy consumer, Vote Solar says.
The legislation would create 22,198 direct and induced jobs, according to Vote Solar. These jobs would include high-quality local employment opportunities across a broad range of education requirements, salary levels and fields.
The economic output of the bill would total $20 billion, including wages, salaries and revenues that can be reinvested into the state economy. The average residential electric bill impact would be $0.39 per month, the report adds.
For full text of the report and additional information about the Solar
Job Act, click here.
SOURCE: Vote Solar
