NineDot Energy advocates for essential battery energy storage systems in New York City and State through smart, cost-effective policy and regulatory solutions
City of Yes for Carbon Neutrality
City of Yes for Carbon Neutrality allows for the siting of energy storage systems in a wider array of zoning districts and more flexible rules regarding yards and permitted obstructions, paving the way for NYC and State to meet its clean energy and energy storage goals. NineDot was strongly supportive of the City of Yes for Carbon Neutrality zoning updates, which was approved December 2023.
Local Law 97
Local Law 97 was passed by the New York City Council in April 2019 a part of the Climate Mobilization Act. Starting in 2025, LL97 will penalize New York City buildings that exceed emissions thresholds, unless the owners pursue measures to reduce the building’s carbon footprint. Our analysis of the Department of Buildings’ Time-of-Use (TOU) greenhouse gas emissions methodology shows that subscribing to energy storage assets could help building owners achieve net reductions of CO2e emissions by hundreds of tons annually, helping meet emissions targets and align with the city’s climate goals.
New York Energy Storage Roadmap 2.0
The Energy Storage Roadmap 2.0 lays out a pathway to meet New York’s state 6 GW energy storage target with a series of policy, regulatory and programmatic recommendations to jump-start New York’s nascent energy storage market. NineDot supported the budget proposal within the Roadmap 2.0 as a responsible use of ratepayer funds that will provide environmental, financial, and social-equity benefits to ratepayers.
DPS/NYSERDA Statewide Solar for All (S-SFA)
At a high-level, the Statewide Solar for All program allows community solar projects to sell their credits to the utility at a fixed price, with the utilities then passing along these credits to eligible low income customers. This program attempts to provide relief to energy-burdened communities of NYS. NineDot will be actively monitoring further development of the program, particularly with respect to the inclusion of storage, and is hopeful that it will allow for the widespread participation of the retail storage industry in New York City.
Federal Treasury 48(e) Low Income ITC Adder
The Investment Tax Credit (ITC) has been key to the U.S. solar industry’s growth. The 2022 Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) extended this credit for 10 years, included standalone storage for the first time, and introduced the Low Income Adder, a bonus incentive which provides additional credits for eligible projects in low-income areas. However, current federal guidelines exclude standalone storage from receiving this bonus. NineDot believes that this exclusion overlooks the potential of community-scale storage to deliver crucial benefits to low-income urban communities, particularly in space-constrained cities like New York, and we are continuing our advocacy efforts to have battery storage systems included for this particular IRA provision.
Who we work with on regulatory advancement
