Sustainable Westchester today announced the receipt of $750,000 in New York State funding, made possible through the leadership ofSenate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, to expand clean energy programs serving residents and businesses across Westchester County. The investment arrives at a critical moment: energy costs are climbing, air quality alerts are rising, clean energy is the lowest cost long term solution, and Westchester’s communities are deeply engaged in charting a more sustainable future.
The funding will support four interconnected areas of work:
• Deepening municipal engagement to help local governments meet state climate and clean energy benchmarks.
• Establishing a new opt-in clean energy supply program to reconnect residents and businesses with renewable electricity.
• Advancing an ambitious solar expansion strategy aimed at tripling rooftop solar and achieving a tenfold increase in parking lot solar canopies across the county.
• Preserving Sustainable Westchester’s existing suite of programs that serve the region’s more than onemillion residents.
“As utility bills rise and the urgency of the climate crisis grows, Westchester residents deserve access to clean, affordable energy, not fossil fuels by default,” said Tom Watson, Executive Director of Sustainable Westchester. “This critical investment will expand programs that empower our communities to take control of their energy future.”
The solar initiative, which the Clinton Global Initiative supports as a Commitment to Action, represents a particularly bold ambition. Fewer than 7% of Westchester homes currently have rooftop solar, and only 2% of suitable surface parking
lots have solar canopies. Sustainable Westchester’s multi-year strategy — combining proactive site identification, streamlined municipal permitting, and bundled procurement — aims to change that dramatically.
At full scale, projected new installations could generate enough clean electricity to power a city larger than White Plains, while creating nearly 300 local jobs in solar sales, design, installation, and maintenance. On the municipal front, Sustainable Westchester will expand its support for participation in New York State’s Climate Smart Communities and Clean Energy Communities programs, initiatives through which the organization has already helped Westchester municipalities earn more than $500,000 in funding. Enhanced services will include individualized needs assessments, outreach in low-to-moderate income communities, and volunteer mobilization.
