Funding Led by Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins Enables Clean Energy Access and Environmental Impact for Westchester Communities
Mount Kisco, N.Y. — Sustainable Westchester today announced the receipt of $750,000 in New York State funding, made possible through the leadership of Senate 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 ten-fold increase in parking lot solar canopies across the county.
- Preserving Sustainable Westchester’s existing suite of programs that serve the region’s more than one million 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.”
“This $750,000 investment will help make our communities healthier while connecting residents to affordable, clean energy options, enabling real progress on the air quality concerns our communities have been raising for years. I want to thank Governor Hochul and Speaker Heastie for their partnership in securing this funding for Sustainable Westchester,” said Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins. “This organization has spent more than a decade proving what regional collaboration can accomplish, and this investment will help them triple rooftop solar, expand parking lot solar canopies tenfold, and protect programs like GridRewards that are already saving residents money. Investments like this one reflect our shared commitment to building a cleaner, more resilient New York for generations to come.”
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. Alongside these new efforts, the funding will help preserve Sustainable Westchester’s core programs, including GridRewards — New York’s first residential demand-response program — as well as Community Solar, EnergySmart Homes, MOVE electric vehicle charging infrastructure, and workforce development initiatives that ensure that all communities benefit economically from the expansion of clean energy capacity.
Sustainable Westchester is a 501(c)(3) non-profit created by and for the municipalities of Westchester County to advance climate mitigation and clean energy. For over a decade, the organization has developed and implemented programs benefiting more than 150,000 households and small businesses, serving as a proven model of regional collaboration in support of New York State’s energy and environmental objectives.
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