NYC Is More Addicted To Fossil Fuels Than Ever. Now It May Make Solar Harder To Build.

First, a loophole let fossil fuels eat up funding meant for community solar. Now proposed new fire codes pose new challenges for rooftop panels.

Still traumatized by 2012’s deadly Superstorm Sandy, New York City has in recent years sued oil giants, divested its pension funds of coal stocks, and outlined lofty plans to protect the coastal metropolis from rising seas and extreme weather.  Yet this year the nation’s largest city became more dependent on fossil fuels for its electricity as the nuclear plant that provided most of its zero-carbon electricity shut down and a plan to build a transmission line to carry hydropower down to the Hudson River from dams in Canada, first proposed in 2008, continued to flounder. With limited space to build renewables and political power over its own infrastructure, glazing rooftops across the five boroughs with solar panels is widely seen as the easiest and most affordable way to generate renewable power within city limits ― and a source of jobs and training for an industry set for exponential growth if the U.S. fulfills its climate goals.