Bloomberg: NYC Triples Solar Production

New York City has tripled its production of solar power. That's according to Mayor Bloomberg, who today announced the completion of ten solar panel projects on City-owned buildings across the five boroughs.

The City says the new panels add 648 kilowatts of energy, enough to power over 140 households. Bloomberg says a wide array of City facilities will benefit from the projects.

"You can see panels on the roof of a fire department truck repair facility in Queens,” he said today at a press conference.  “And there are solar panels on schools, fire houses, police precincts, and other buildings."

Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer - a possible Mayoral candidate - says while he welcomes the news, New York City still lags far behind its neighbors when it comes to solar energy.

“To put the Mayor’s announcement in perspective, in the last two years, New Jersey installed over 440 megawatts of solar energy,” Stringer said today in a press release. “Today, the City is announcing that we have increased our capacity to 8 megawatts.”

Mayor Bloomberg made today’s announcement at the opening of the new offices of local tech start up Efficiency 2.0. The company helps energy utilities work with consumers to cut energy use.