Con Edison unveils Clean Energy Update for tracking the electric grid’s green transformation in NYC and Westchester

Con Edison customers in New York City and Westchester own nearly 45,000 rooftop solar systems totaling 419 megawatts of capacity, lowering their energy costs with a clean, green alternative.

Queens also is the leader among the city’s five boroughs when it comes to using solar energy, with more than 14,000 systems installed.

Those are some of the first statistics coming from the energy provider’s new Con Edison Clean Energy Update, an online progress report that makes it easier to track the electric grid’s green transformation in New York City and Westchester.

The report specifically provides information on installations of solar panels, battery storage, electric vehicle chargers and other technologies as they help transform the power grid. Updated quarterly, the report will make it easier to track deployments of customer-owned clean energy technologies as these markets develop and expand in Con Edison’s service area, which includes 10 million people in the city and Westchester County.

“The energy landscape is evolving faster than at any time in our company’s 200-year history, shifting toward cleaner, more decentralized and community-based energy solutions,” said Con Edison Chairman and CEO Tim Cawley. “The energy system of the future will put far more control in the hands of customers. This new era calls for unprecedented transparency and accessibility of information.”

Con Edison plans to deliver 100% clean electricity by 2040, according to the energy provider’s recently expanded Clean Energy Commitment. Sources for that power include a combination of large renewable generators, such as offshore wind turbines, and distributed resources embedded in the local power grid, such as solar panels owned by customers.

Here are other statistics from the first report:

• In 2021, Con Edison customers installed 7,280 solar energy systems totaling more than 70 megawatts of generating capacity. The panels can be expected to generate the equivalent amount of energy as approximately 22,000 city homes would consume in a year.
• Con Edison incentivized more than 9,700 clean heat projects, including electric heat pumps and other clean heat technologies, in 2021, a 300% jump from the previous year, when the program began.
• Electric vehicle registrations showed more than 30,000 EVs are now on the road in the city and Westchester. Con Edison’s PowerReady incentive program supported installation of 359 EV chargers through March 2022, including 42 DC fast chargers. Through PowerReady, the company aims to support the installation of approximately 19,000 charging plugs by 2025.

Con Edison is pitching its Clean Energy Update as a complement to the City Comptroller Brad Lander’s NYC Climate Dashboard, which tracks the city’s progress in meeting its climate goals.

“Data and transparency are critical to our city’s ability to address climate change and drive the just transition,” Lander said. “Con Edison’s commitment to making clean energy data available to New Yorkers is an encouraging step as we track reduction milestones in our fuel, gas and oil energy consumption. It’s why my office released its NYC Climate Dashboard and how we can work to track our collective progress toward a cleaner, greener city.”