TESTIMONY
Jay Wu on Supporting Council Member Nurse's Public Solar Power Bill (Intro 353)
1:21:56
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129 sec
Jay Wu advocates for the enactment of Council Member Nurse's public solar power bill to leverage financial incentives and combat climate change.
- Supports Intro 353 as a measure for New York City to build a clean energy economy and create union jobs.
- Highlights the financial incentives available through the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act and New York State's solar programs.
- Emphasizes the cost-effectiveness of solar investments, with federal and state funding covering about half of the costs.
- Asserts the urgency of acting now to capitalize on limited-time financial opportunities.
- Urges the New York City Council to pass the legislation to benefit from cost savings, address climate change, and generate union jobs.
Jay Wu
1:21:56
Alright.
1:21:57
Honorable members of the New York City Council.
1:22:00
My name is Jay Wu, and I'm a policy analyst climate jobs National Resource Center.
1:22:04
Our organization has state coalitions across the country, and we support initiatives that will build a clean energy economy, create good union jobs, and improve equity in our communities.
1:22:15
So we strongly support council member nurses public solar power bill intro 353 because this bill is not only a huge step towards building a green economy.
1:22:23
It's smart and practical for New York City.
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And the quicker we move The more funding we can draw from federal and state programs to meet our climate goals with cost effective solutions.
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That's why we must start now.
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At this moment, the federal government is dedicating historic sums of funding through the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act which includes a groundbreaking policy called DirectPay.
1:22:46
DirectPay is uncapped as a right cash incentive provided to the public sector, for building and owning renewable energy projects.
1:22:54
That means from now through 2032, for every 1,000,000 the city spends on solar, the city gets 300,000 back in cash from the US treasury.
1:23:04
Renewables projects located in low income communities are potentially eligible for further 10 to 20 percent of project costs, but this adders only available through the end of 2024, making it all more urgent.
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In addition to federal funds, the city could draw roughly 10,000,000 from New York State's solar incentive program and based on our estimates up to 78,000,000 through New York state's building aid reimbursement program.
1:23:29
That's another 15% on top of the 30% in federal dollars meaning that about half of the market cost of city solar projects would be paid by federal and state funding sources.
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With these incentives plus the energy cost savings generated by solar over the course of its useful lifetime, solar pays for itself two and a half times over.
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The time is now to act boldly.
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By waiting any longer, New York City will lose the chance to access these huge opportunities to fight climate change with cost saving solutions, and create union jobs.
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We urge the city council to enact this legislation.
1:24:04
Thank you for your time and consideration.
