Opinion: It’s time to bring solar within reach and power New York’s future

New Yorkers are facing skyrocketing electricity bills, and too many communities, especially those most impacted by climate change, are being left behind. As a legislator, my job isn’t just about passing sweeping reforms – it’s about ensuring the laws we already have truly serve everyday New Yorkers. That’s why this budget season, I’m championing a straightforward but transformative update: expanding New York’s residential solar tax credit.

For decades, this incentive has helped homeowners go solar, offering a 25% tax credit on installation costs, and has allowed thousands of homeowners to benefit from lower utility bills and cleaner air. But this very important incentive needs an upgrade – the cap hasn’t been raised in nearly 20 years, and it is structured as a “nonrefundable” credit. This means that residents who don’t have tax liability, such as seniors on fixed incomes and some low-income households, cannot benefit.

I represent Brownsville, Brooklyn – the neighborhood where I was born and raised. Growing up, I saw firsthand how air pollution fueled chronic health conditions like asthma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease among my neighbors. At the same time, our local energy grid was so overburdened that we barely had enough power to keep our community running. 

Near-brownouts are more than just a technical issue. They are a safety crisis. Elevators in NYCHA buildings failed, leaving elderly and disabled residents stranded. I remember taking my mother to a neighbor’s home during these outages because she could not make it up to the 18th floor of our building. Our community’s only hospital, Brookdale, nearly had to evacuate at one point because it lacked the power to operate essential equipment – a major risk for a community already burdened by health disparities. This is unacceptable.

Renewable energy like solar power goes beyond embracing new technology; it’s a matter of survival. That’s why we spearheaded Solarize Brownsville back in 2017, installing over 200 solar arrays on local homes. The impact has been undeniable. Residents come to my office excited to share that their electricity bills have dropped to zero. Their neighbors take notice and want to go solar, too. This is how we build an energy transition that serves working families.

But we need the state to step up. Right now, low-income homeowners – the people most burdened by energy costs – are being shut out of the solar tax credit because they often don’t have the tax liability to claim it. A recent report found that while a quarter of homeowners in New York make under $50,000 a year, these households installed only 10% of the total solar projects between 2010 and 2022 and received just 5% of the state’s investment through the solar tax credit program. New York’s solar landscape is inequitable: low-income homeowners have lower installation rates, and even those households that do manage to install solar receive less subsidy. 

That’s why I’m sponsoring a bill, in partnership with state Sen. Pete Harckham, that would fix this by making the tax credit refundable for low-income households, doubling the cap to $10,000, covering battery storage and removing outdated restrictions on co-ops and condos. These are common-sense updates that will make clean energy more accessible and affordable for New Yorkers.

New York has always been a national leader in solar energy. We pioneered net metering in the 1990s and community solar in the 2010s. We passed the landmark Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act. We’ve already hit our 6-gigawatt distributed solar goal ahead of schedule. But now, with federal rollbacks threatening progress, we must act boldly at the state level to keep the momentum going and to foster an equitable transition to a clean energy future.

Expanding the solar tax credit is about delivering real, tangible relief to families struggling under the weight of high electricity costs, which are only slated to increase with Con Ed’s newest rate hike proposal. It’s also about increasing access to renewable energy, reducing our reliance on fossil fuels and cutting the pollution that harms our communities. Too many of my neighbors are paying the price for pollution with their health – suffering from childhood asthma and respiratory diseases worsened by poor air quality. By expanding access to solar, we can help these New Yorkers breathe easier, lower their energy costs, and build a cleaner, healthier future for all.

We’ve seen legislators across the political spectrum support this legislation, ensuring its inclusion in both the Assembly and Senate one-house budgets. Now, I urge my colleagues and Gov. Kathy Hochul: let’s get this done. Let’s make rooftop solar a reality for all New Yorkers, not just the privileged few. Because when we invest in solar, we’re investing in healthier communities, a stronger grid and a fairer economy. And that’s a future worth fighting for.