Metro-North Launching Mid-Hudson Solar Initiative

WASSAIC, NY — The Metropolitan Transportation Authority announced on Earth Day that it is launching a new initiative that will generate clean, emission free, solar electricity as well as begin to open up a new frontier of previously untapped revenue: the leasing of potentially millions of square feet of industrial roof space to companies interested in generating solar power.

Two Hudson Valley locations are among the seven chosen for the solar initiative. Both are Metro-North lots:

• Cortlandt Station Parking Lot
• Wassaic Station Operations Lot

“Green energy always had a dual benefit – it can help save the planet and it can be a big money-maker as well,” said MTA Chief Development Officer Janno Lieber. “The MTA is already one of the nation’s leading forces in reducing carbon emissions. The recently approved Central Business District Tolling system will also reduce emissions and generate funds for the MTA, and this common-sense, innovative new program will further help the environment while generating a significant amount of new revenue for the MTA.”

MTA officials said that thanks to a steady fall in capital costs of solar panel and non-roof penetrating installation technologies, it is increasingly commonplace for industrial and warehouse buildings in the New York metropolitan region to place solar panels on their rooftops. The practice has also spread to buildings in public-sector portfolios, including universities and City buildings, they pointed out in a press release.

The MTA is the largest public transportation agency in the United States. It has identified more than 100 bus depots, train yards, repair shops, and commuter lots across all MTA agencies – totaling more than 10 million square feet of industrial roof space – which would be suitable for solar development. Fully realized, these properties present an opportunity to develop more than 100 megawatts of emission-free electricity for New Yorkers – enough to power 18,000 households.

The MTA hopes to achieve a significant new revenue stream with little to no capital investment of its own, by way of leasing the valuable real estate to companies that would use it to install solar panels and generate clean electricity to sell back to the municipal grid.

“The MTA’s operations avert annual greenhouse gas emissions of more 17 million metric tons, and this initiative will take our environmental leadership to a whole new level,” said Projjal Dutta, MTA Director of Sustainability. “We have contributed to the Earth’s wellness by keeping millions of daily commuters out of cars and engendering compact development. With the Solar RFP the MTA will also become New York’s newest home for significant renewable power generation.”

A Request for Proposals went public Monday.

It proposes the solar development of seven MTA properties, belonging to NYC Transit, LIRR and Metro-North Railroad, generating an estimated 6.5 megawatts of emissions-free electricity for thousands of New York households. This RFP includes locations uniquely chosen to serve as a representative combination of existing roofs and parking lots.

The other five chosen locations are:

• Ulmer Park Bus Depot | NYCT Department of Buses
• Queens Village Bus Depot | NYCT Department of Buses
• Coney Island Maintenance Facility | NYCT Department of Subways
• Jamaica Maintenance Facility | NYCT Department of Subways
• Hillside Support Facility | Long Island Rail Road

All locations were carefully selected in partnership between the MTA Department of Environmental Sustainability and Compliance, MTA Real Estate, and the individual operating agencies, officials said. Chosen rooftops and parking lots fit the necessary requirements of having new roofs/new pavement, large quantities of unobstructed roof space, and local energy demand.

Tours of the initial seven sites are being held for interested proposers next month, and RFP negotiations are expected to begin in the fall.

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