August 20, 2008—New York Governor David Paterson recently signed a legislative package designed to encourage people throughout the state to install grid-connected solar and wind power systems, systems that generate power from farm wastes, and green roofs. Most of the bills relate to net metering, which allows homeowners and businesses to earn credit for any excess power that they feed back into the electric grid.
Senate Bill 7171 expands net metering to include non-residential solar power systems up to 2 megawatts in capacity, or equal in size to the customer’s peak load, whichever is less, and increases the maximum solar power system size for residential customers to 25 kilowatts, up from 10 kilowatts.
Senate Bill 8481 applies similar changes to net-metered wind power generators, expanding net metering of wind turbines to include non-residential customers, who can net meter wind turbines as large as 2 megawatts or the customer’s peak load, whichever is less.
Two additional bills relate to tax abatements for buildings in New York City with solar power systems and green roofs. S. 8145 creates a four-year real property tax abatement of up to $62,500 per year for buildings owners that install solar power systems, with a greater tax abatement available for systems installed before 2011, and a lesser tax abatement for systems installed in 2011 or 2012.
S. 7553 creates a similar tax abatement for buildings in NYC that install green roofs, which are rooftops covered with vegetation. The one-year tax abatement applies to buildings that cover at least half of their rooftop space with vegetation and is equal to $4.50 per square foot of green roof, up to the tax liability on the building or $100,000, whichever is less. The green roof tax abatement is in effect from 2009 through 2013.
