New York State has hit a major clean energy milestone by achieving 8 GW of cumulative installed distributed solar PV capacity, moving well ahead of its official 10 GW distributed solar target set for 2030, according to an announcement by Governor Kathy Hochul.

Fueled by the state’s nation-leading community solar deployments and the longstanding NY-Sun Program, New York’s distributed solar sector continues its rapid expansion. The state currently operates over 276,000 distributed solar projects, with an additional 2.7 GW of solar capacity currently in the development pipeline, laying a solid foundation for further growth.

Sustained policy support underpins the state’s booming solar industry. The 2027 New York state budget allocates $200 million to fund the NY-Sun Program, specifically supporting the installation of 1 GW of new rooftop and community solar projects. Additionally, the New York State Senate passed the Accelerate Solar for Affordable Power (ASAP) Act in April this year, setting an ambitious new target of 20 GW of distributed energy capacity by 2035.