As I watched footage from Florida, where communities are reeling from Hurricane Milton, I’m reminded of the devastating effects of Superstorm Sandy on the New York City region a dozen years ago this week. Sandy’s impacts were severe and far ranging, including 43 deaths, 90,000 buildings inundated, and a multiday blackout that left nearly 2 million people without power.
Climate change has since made coastal storms more frequent and violent, highlighting the urgent need to deploy clean energy technology quickly to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while investing in infrastructure to make New York City resilient before the next storm.
Rooftop solar paired with energy storage is a powerful technology that achieves climate change mitigation and adaptation in one fell swoop; rooftop solar panels generate electricity without polluting the air and energy storage provides resilient back up power; a function that can literally save lives in the event of a blackout. The world looks to New York City as a leader in climate mitigation and adaptation.
In 2019, New York enacted the Climate Mobilization Act, making NYC the first major city to regulate carbon emissions from buildings. That same year, New York State passed the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, codifying some of the nation’s most ambitious state-level clean energy mandates. That’s why it’s so surprising that New York City is the only place in the world where there is a de facto ban on clean, resilient backup power for homes.
Over the last decade, residential energy storage installations have increased exponentially. Most commonly installed in garages or outdoors in tandem with rooftop solar panels, residential energy storage systems are not the public safety hazard posed by unregistered e-bikes or scooters; residential energy storage systems are safe, highly-regulated, UL-listed products that are installed by licensed contractors in the New York region and around the world.
Many homeowners think of residential energy storage systems as a safe, environmentally friendly alternative to backup gas generators. But modern energy storage systems are so much more than that! While gas generators are useless without gasoline (which can be hard to get ahold of in an emergency), solar paired with energy storage can provide sustained backup power by recharging from the sun time and again.
While backup generators collect dust 99% of the time, energy storage systems provide valuable services to the electric distribution system, making our energy system more resilient and affordable when the lights are on. And while individual solar plus storage systems may be small, they can be constructed quickly and aggregated into large-scale Virtual Power Plants (VPPs), enabling us to retire our most polluting power plants.
According to NYC’s Health Department, a shocking 2,400 New York City residents die prematurely each year due to the health impacts of air pollution, disproportionately impacting low-income communities and communities of color. Retiring our dirtiest fossil fuel generators is critical for public health and safety as well as environmental justice. Rapidly installing solar and energy storage systems in NYC can accelerate those retirements.
New York City’s elected leaders understand this opportunity. It’s why they partnered with the state Legislature to extend and expand NYC’s Solar and Electric Storage System Property Tax Abatement last year, an incentive for NYC property owners if they install solar and/or energy storage.
New York’s Public Service Commission understands this opportunity too, which is why they recently authorized New York’s Energy Storage Roadmap, including $100 million for residential energy storage incentives. It’s also why they initiated a Grid of the Future proceeding and commissioned a study to evaluate New York’s VPP potential.
I’ll make their job easy: New York City’s VPP potential is zero without sensible changes to the Fire Code to allow for the installation of safe residential energy storage systems in NYC. And while much of the statewide $100 million residential energy storage incentive program will be funded by New York City residents, without reforms to the Fire Code, they will be unable to access the incentive program they are bankrolling.
The FDNY’s bravery is undeniable and their caution is understandable, but let’s not get it twisted: unregulated e-bikes and scooters are not the same thing as highly regulated, UL-listed residential energy storage systems. As New Yorkers reflect on this 12th anniversary of Superstorm Sandy, let’s not just wait idly for the next storm. Now is the time for the City Council and the FDNY to lift New York City’s ban on clean, resilient backup power and ensure that New Yorkers have access to this life-saving technology.
Ginsburg is the executive director of New York Solar Energy Industries Association, New York’s distributed solar and energy storage trade association.
