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2023 NYC Solar + Storage Summit

Mayor Eric Adams Addresses Solar Stakeholders at Sustainable CUNY's 14th Summit


NYC Mayor Eric Adams	CUNY Executive VC & COO Hector Batista, John Jay President Karol V. Mason, Mayor Eric Adams, CUNY Exec VC for FPCM Dr. Mohamed Attalla, CUNY Univ Exec. Dir Tria Case, Esq.

New York City continues to play a pivotal role in scaling up solar and energy storage deployment locally and across the nation as evidenced by the record-breaking attendance at the 14th NYC Solar + Storage Summit on June 20th, 2023.

Sustainable CUNY of the City University of New York initiated the Summit in 2007 and co-hosted the event this year with the New York Solar Energy Industries Association (NYSEIA). Mayor Eric Adams echoed the theme for the day long summit, telling the crowd at the Gerald W. Lynch Theater that prioritizing energy equity, technology innovation and government investment were the three main pillars to unlocking more solar plus storage deployments across the densely populated city region. The Mayor emphasized the importance of solar systems paired with distributed storage resources for resiliency measures.

Attendees included over 600 solar professionals from public and private sectors, CUNY students, city finance and real estate leaders, and not for profit organizations.

9:00	NYC Solar + Storage Summit Opens
Welcome and Opening Remarks
		Tria Case, Esq. University Executive Director, Office of Sustainability & Energy Conservation, Sustainable CUNY, the City University of New York Mohamed Attalla, Vice Chancellor of Facilities Planning, Construction and Management, City University of New York (CUNY) Dan Montante, NYSEIA Board President Senator Majority Leader Chuck Schumer
9:30	NYC's Clean Energy Transformation
The morning conversation gave insights into how NYSERDA and Con Edison are approaching the ambitious project of decarbonizing America’s largest City. The discussion focused on how New York is advancing parallel efforts to reduce building emissions, electrify our buildings, prepare our grid for large-scale renewables and scale up local solar + storage deployment.
		Tria Case, Sustainable CUNY (Moderator) Anthony Fiore, Chief Program Officer, NYSERDA Matthew Ketschke, President, Con Edison
10:00	City Leadership to Accelerate Solar + Storage
Leaders at the NYC Mayor’s office and key City agencies focused on NYC’s local laws, pending zoning/permitting improvements, and other initiatives designed to accelerate solar and storage deployment that can help ambitious climate and clean energy goals in the complex-built NYC environment.
		Emily Sweeney, Solar Ombudsman, CUNY (moderator) Julia Casagrande, Deputy Director, Clean Energy, NYC Mayor’s Office of Climate and Environmental Justice Gus Sirakis, Deputy Commissioner, NYC Department of Buildings Julian Bazel, Counsel, Fire Department of New York (FDNY) Steven Caputo, Assistant Commissioner, DCAS Division of Energy Management
11:00	Industry Innovation to Scale up Solar in the City
With nearly 40,000 installations on NYC buildings to-date, this panel featured leaders from real estate and the solar industry who are scaling up solar in the City.
		Luke Forster, Senior Business Analyst, DER, NYSERDA (presentation) Noah Ginsburg, Executive Director, NYSEIA (moderator) Laura Humphrey, Director of Sustainability, L+M Development Partners T.R. Ludwig, Founder and CEO, Brooklyn SolarWorks Lincoln Xia, CEO, Accord Power Noam Bar-Zemer, Northeast Policy and Strategy Manager, SunPower
12:30	Distributed Conversations
Facilitated Lunch conversations brought stakeholders and decision-makers together to discuss important issues related to solar and energy storage; identify the key challenges in those areas; and propose solutions to address those challenges.
1:30	Afternoon Keynote
The major role the EPA plays in our clean energy transition was highlighted, including regulating fossil fuel emissions and deploying the $27B Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, with the $7B earmarked for solar.
		Lisa Garcia, EPA Region 2 Administrator
2:00	Special Guest
City of YES Zoning for Carbon Neutrality
		NYC Mayor Eric Adams
2:15	Financing Solutions to Accelerate Solar + Storage
This dynamic panel discussed how leading public, private and nonprofit clean energy financiers are harnessing opportunities such as the expanded federal tax incentives, the EPA’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, and the Inflation Reduction Act to accelerate solar + storage deployment in NYC and across the nation.
		Louise Yeung, Chief Climate Officer, NYC Comptroller (moderator) Gregory Randolph, Managing Director, New York Green Bank Winston Chen, Director, Capital Markets, CleanCapital Jay Merves, Director, Business Development, NYCEEC Adam Gilbert, Head of Sales, Greentech Finance Solutions
3:00	Expanding Access: Workforce, Housing and Community Solar
This panel focused on how leaders in affordable housing, community solar and workforce development are harnessing the Climate Leadership and Communities Protection Act, NYSERDA funding, and bonus tax credits in the Inflation Reduction Act to bring the benefits of solar and storage to New York City’s low-income communities.
		Gaspar Caro, CUNY (moderator) Anika Wistar-Jones, Director, Here Comes Solar, Solar One Jason Kaplan, COO and General Counsel, PowerMarket Charles Callaway, Director of Workforce Development and Founder, WE ACT for Environmental Justice / SUN Siobhan Watson, Deputy Director, Sustainability Programs, NYCHA
4:00	NYC Storage: Mission Possible
Public and private industry leaders outlined how the City and State are providing incentives and working together to reform permitting and zoning to catalyze more in-City storage deployment.
		Daniella Leifer, DG Ombudsman, CUNY (moderator) Jon Carbajal, Director of Product Development, NineDot Energy Bill Oberkehr, Senior Project Manager, NYSERDA Nilus Klingel, Senior Planner, NYC Department of City Planning Paul Rogers, Co-Founder and Principal, Energy Safety Response Group Kelly Sarber, CEO, Strategic Management Group

2023 NYC Solar + Storage Summit

Mayor Eric Adams Addresses Solar Stakeholders at Sustainable CUNY's 14th Summit

NYC Mayor Eric Adams

CUNY Executive VC & COO Hector Batista, John Jay President Karol V. Mason, Mayor Eric Adams, CUNY Exec VC for FPCM Dr. Mohamed Attalla, CUNY Univ Exec. Dir Tria Case, Esq.

9:00

​NYC Solar + Storage Summit Opens

Welcome and Opening Remarks

Tria Case, Esq. University Executive Director, Office of Sustainability & Energy Conservation, Sustainable CUNY, the City University of New York

Mohamed Attalla, Vice Chancellor of Facilities Planning, Construction and Management, City University of New York (CUNY)

Dan Montante, NYSEIA Board President

Senator Majority Leader Chuck Schumer

9:30

NYC's Clean Energy Transformation

Tria Case, Sustainable CUNY (Moderator)

Anthony Fiore, Chief Program Officer, NYSERDA

Matthew Ketschke, President, Con Edison

10:00

City Leadership to Accelerate Solar + Storage

Leaders at the NYC Mayor’s office and key City agencies focused on NYC’s local laws, pending zoning/permitting improvements, and other initiatives designed to accelerate solar and storage deployment that can help ambitious climate and clean energy goals in the complex-built NYC environment.​

Emily Sweeney, Solar Ombudsman, CUNY (moderator)

Julia Casagrande, Deputy Director, Clean Energy, NYC Mayor’s Office of Climate and Environmental Justice

Gus Sirakis, Deputy Commissioner, NYC Department of Buildings

Julian Bazel, Counsel, Fire Department of New York (FDNY)

Steven Caputo, Assistant Commissioner, DCAS Division of Energy Management

11:00

Industry Innovation to Scale up Solar in the City

With nearly 40,000 installations on NYC buildings to-date, this panel featured leaders from real estate and the solar industry who are scaling up solar in the City.

​

Luke Forster, Senior Business Analyst, DER, NYSERDA (presentation)

Noah Ginsburg, Executive Director, NYSEIA (moderator)

Laura Humphrey, Director of Sustainability, L+M Development Partners

T.R. Ludwig, Founder and CEO, Brooklyn SolarWorks

Lincoln Xia, CEO, Accord Power

Noam Bar-Zemer, Northeast Policy and Strategy Manager, SunPower

12:30

Distributed Conversations

Facilitated Lunch conversations brought stakeholders and decision-makers together to discuss important issues related to solar and energy storage; identify the key challenges in those areas; and propose solutions to address those challenges.

1:30

Afternoon Keynote

The major role the EPA plays in our clean energy transition was highlighted, including regulating fossil fuel emissions and deploying the $27B Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, with the $7B earmarked for solar.

Lisa Garcia, EPA Region 2 Administrator

2:00

Special Guest

City of YES Zoning for Carbon Neutrality

NYC Mayor Eric Adams

2:15

Financing Solutions to Accelerate Solar + Storage

Louise Yeung, Chief Climate Officer, NYC Comptroller (moderator)

Gregory Randolph, Managing Director, New York Green Bank

Winston Chen, Director, Capital Markets, CleanCapital

Jay Merves, Director, Business Development, NYCEEC

Adam Gilbert, Head of Sales, Greentech Finance Solutions

3:00

Expanding Access: Workforce, Housing and Community Solar

Gaspar Caro, CUNY (moderator)

Anika Wistar-Jones, Director, Here Comes Solar, Solar One

Jason Kaplan, COO and General Counsel, PowerMarket

Charles Callaway, Director of Workforce Development and Founder, WE ACT for Environmental Justice / SUN

Siobhan Watson, Deputy Director, Sustainability Programs, NYCHA

4:00

NYC Storage: Mission Possible

Public and private industry leaders outlined how the City and State are providing incentives and working together to reform permitting and zoning to catalyze more in-City storage deployment.

​

Daniella Leifer, DG Ombudsman, CUNY (moderator)

Jon Carbajal, Director of Product Development, NineDot Energy

Bill Oberkehr, Senior Project Manager, NYSERDA

Nilus Klingel, Senior Planner, NYC Department of City Planning

Paul Rogers, Co-Founder and Principal, Energy Safety Response Group

Kelly Sarber, CEO, Strategic Management Group

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2019 NY Solar Summit

2018 NY Solar Summit

2017 NY Solar Summit

2016 NY Solar Summit

2015 NY Solar Summit

Summit Archives

CUNY Executive VC & COO Hector Batista, John Jay President Karol V. Mason, Mayor Eric Adams,
CUNY Exec VC for FPCM Dr. Mohamed Attalla, CUNY Univ Exec. Dir Tria Case, Esq.

NYC Solar + Storage Summit Opens

Leaders at the NYC Mayor’s office and key City agencies focused on NYC’s local laws, pending zoning/permitting improvements, and other initiatives designed to accelerate solar and storage deployment that can help ambitious climate and clean energy goals in the complex-built NYC environment.