A new test lab in Cortland, NY will be the only PV test facility in the Northeast with the nearest being in the south and in California. The ability to test new PV panels against both the snow, ice and hail of a NY winter, and the humidity of the summer, should provide valuable information for PV panel manufacturers. Meanwhile the governor's Sun Initiative (http://goo.gl/axxqlw) provides incentives to residential solar, and incentives, financing and technical assistance to NY schools to turn them into demonstration hubs to spread the word and encourage communities to adopt solar technologies.
The new NY Green Bank is a first of its kind and will use public funds to leverage private dollars for solar and other renewable energy projects. As reported previously, New York will also soon be hosting a Solar PV panel factory in Buffalo (http://goo.gl/E8YvD4). Net metering, PACE financing and solar leases are some of the other policies that NY has adopted to push the spread of solar in NY. Regarding solar research and development in the Empire State, solar patent holders in NY include GE and IBM. Looking at intellectual property rights for solar companies, New York was second (see http://goo.gl/n3pLJk) behind California in 2012 for solar patents with GE and IBM both contributing ( www.cepgi.com ). NY's goal is to install 2 GW of solar power within 10 year to rival that of California. Also, New York's high electricity prices, second to California, is an additional reason for a switch to solar. More info on the Sun Intitiative is at Website: http://ny-sun.ny.gov/.