Alliance for Clean Energy New York (ACE NY) Annual Conference

Bob Ciesielski, Chapter Energy Chair

ACE NY held its annual conference in Albany on October 22 - 23. It was attended by some 550 supporters of renewable energy and energy storage, including developers, environmentalists, and government leaders.

The organization has an award-winning podcast entitled Plugging In with some 35 episodes to date  available at www.aceny.org/podcast.

Just a few important conference highlights:

• Land- based solar and wind power-sourced electricity are less expensive than gas, coal, propane or oil, and much less expensive than nuclear power. Increased utility costs are due to other factors including inflation, regulations, repairs to infrastructure, etc. Over 90% of new power generation worldwide in 2024 was from solar and wind installations.
• ACE NY joined with 17 State Attorney Generals to challenge the Trump Administration's ban on wind projects. U.S. offshore wind is a $25.5 billion industry with thousands of jobs. States have planned 116.8 Gigawatts of offshore wind projects and 13.5 Gigawatts of these are under construction. A Gigawatt powers approximately 800,000 American homes.
• NYS now has over 7 Gigawatts of distributed solar power including rooftop, commercial and community solar installations. The goal for distributed solar should be increased and regulations for installation reformed to bring down costs.
• NYS is attempting to approve new solar and wind projects which  will be able to take advantage of current Federal tax credits through a solicitation for new renewable energy projects.
• Agrovoltaics permits agriculture to be conducted among solar panels on farmland. Panelists gave examples of grazing sheep and raising commercial flowers and bees on their farms. The installation of the solar panels provides steady income to farmers which allows them to keep and expand their farms.