New York Power Authority Authorizes New $30 Million Solar Initiative

"The board of trustees of the New York Power Authority (NYPA) has authorized a new solar energy iinitiative called the NY-Sun Solar Market Acceleration Program (Solar MAP). The program will provide up to  30 million, over five years, for solar photovoltaic research, training and demonstration projects, with the goal of achieving cost reductions for wider use of solar energy. The program is part of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's NY-Sun Initiative, announced during his 2012 State of the State address, which calls for expanding solar capacity in New York while lowering its cost to protect ratepayers."

Seems Cuomo forgot something rather simple and important.  YOU ACTUALLY HAVE TO HAVE SOME CONSISTENT SUN TO MAKE THIS WORK!!!!  A weather lesson for NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo.                               Just in case you missed it Gov. Cuomo, this is what the sun looks like.                                You need a lot of this to make solar energy work and make it viable! Note the blue AZ sky above my house.  You need a lot of this too Gov. Cuomo on a regular basis to make solar work. Like I said in my post above on solar, based on NY's weather this seems like one more Cuomo renewable energy wild goose chase.  Keeping in mind that roughly 50% of the day is actually NIGHT with no solar.  Of course Cuomo thinks he is so popular he probably doesn't get this since people are always blowing sunshine up his skirt 24 hours a day!! I live in a passive solar house in AZ, one of the sunniest places int he nation. I estimate in a good year I get about 40 to 50% of my house heat from solar, and I can actually store some of that heat for the evening hours. The rest is from traditional natural gas heat. Truly viable solar in NY is a pipe dream!!! I wonder if Cuomo will follow through on this NY solar fiasco. He couldn't even finish an investigation of the previous Cape Vincent wind conflicted town officers and bring the truth on that out into the sunshine. The solar initiative calls for demonstration projects.  Here's a thought, how about Cuomo demonstrate he can follow through on the Cape Vincent ethics investigation 1st before bilking the NY tax payer out of $30 million on this latest fiasco. I think Cuomo should take his solar initiative and his investigation and stick it in a place where the sun don't shine!!!! Note the table in the link below by NOAA on average annual possible sunshine for various cities. http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/online/ccd/pctposrank.txt Flagstaff, AZ where I live ranks 9th on this list with 78% possible annual sunshine, and we get a lot of snow in some years, sometimes even more than Cape Vincent.  The difference is our storms come off the Pacific, drop their snow and LEAVE.  We don't have long stretches of gray overcast. Note that of the 1st 10 cities listed they are in the West or desert SW.  In the 1st 20 listed they also pick up areas in the South as well. SOLAR IN NY?????  The 1st NY city to appear on this list is NYC at ranking 105 out of 175 with 58% possible sun .  Albany ranks at 138 with 53% sun...maybe Cuomo should wake up and stick his head out the window of his office once in a while.  Syracuse ranks 164 out of 175 with 46% sun. Geees...Take a geography and weather lesson Mr. Cuomo so you can figure out why the big solar projects are in the desert SW!!!!!  Don't get me wrong, I love parts of NY despite the weather, especially the 1000 Islands and Cape Vincent area.  And if somebody wants to committ to personal solar...have at it, I did here in AZ as a personal environmental committment.  But let's get real about what the viablity and cost effectiveness is, especially on an industrial scale.

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