New York solar leads

Solar resource in New York City

The PVWatts calculator, an NREL tool now maintained by the National Laboratory of the Rockies, gives 4.66 kWh per square meter per day for New York City, the state’s largest city in the Census Bureau’s July 1, 2025 estimates (checked October 9, 2026).

The calculation uses PVWatts version 8 defaults, a fixed open-rack array oriented south and tilted 20 degrees, at the city’s Census gazetteer point and with typical-year weather from the National Solar Radiation Database. Upstate cities, and any roof with a different tilt, direction or shade, will produce other values; the figure is a reference for comparing states, not a projection for one building.

Net energy metering in New York law

New York’s net metering framework is in section 66-j of the Public Service Law (checked October 9, 2026), which covers residential solar along with farm waste, non-residential solar and several other technologies. For a residential customer of an electric corporation, an eligible solar system has a rated capacity of not more than 25 kW; the limit is higher for farms and non-residential customers. A net energy meter measures the flow of electricity in both directions.

The billing rule is set out step by step. If the utility supplies more electricity than the customer-generator produces in a billing period, the customer pays for the net amount at the rate other customers in the same service class pay. If the customer produces more than it uses, the utility applies a credit to the next bill for the net electricity at that same per-kWh rate. At the end of the year, or the annualized period, the utility pays the customer at its avoided cost for any credit still remaining.

The Public Service Commission administers the section through each utility’s approved tariffs, and the tariffs carry the details that apply to a given home. A solar buyer’s installers will be explaining the tariff of the utility that serves each address.

New York’s detached homes and their owners

No state has a smaller share of detached houses. The Census Bureau’s table B25024 (ACS 5-year 2020-2024) counts 3,533,093 single-family detached homes among 8,585,241 housing units, or 41.2%, the lowest of the 50 states. Owners tell a different story: table B25032 lists 2,897,636 owner-occupied detached homes, 69.0% of the 4,196,985 homes their owners occupy.

Housing age and home values are on New York window replacement leads; heating fuel, including the fuel oil share on Long Island, is on New York HVAC leads.

How the New York facts shape a solar campaign

New York has a very large installed base in a state where most housing units are not detached houses. Three points for a buyer laying out coverage:

• Owner-occupied houses are concentrated. The 2020-2024 ACS county data puts more than 700,000 owner-occupied detached homes in Suffolk and Nassau alone, while in Queens only 36.8% of owner homes are detached.
• Residential systems have a statutory size line. PSL 66-j caps residential solar for net energy metering at 25 kW (as of October 9, 2026), so most home projects fall in one category.
• Local tax treatment varies. Because localities can opt out of the RPTL 487 exemption for systems built before January 1, 2030 (checked October 9, 2026), installers check the local rule for each town they serve.

These points describe housing, installed capacity and state law. They do not estimate the number of homeowners asking for solar anywhere in New York.

Request New York solar leads

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