Gov. Kathy Hochul invests $6.5 million in climate-technology solutions

App users, tap here to watch video report.

ALBANY, NY (WENY) – On Sep. 1, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced $6.5 million to support a new program that will deliver grants to manage financial risk associated with climate change.

The program, Climate-Technology Solutions, will focus on the research and development of new insurance policies and products that will promote the adoption of clean technologies across New York State.

“In our lives today, there is no greater long-term risk then the one posed by climate change,” Katie MacDonald, NYSERDA Director Technology to Market.

Moving forward, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) will select a program administrator to develop this new initiative who will select innovative insurance ideas, products, and services. This would include examples such as insurance for residential and commercial renewable energy projects, that will develop new business models to enable future climate technology solutions.

The program administrator will be awarded up to $1.5 million to work with Managing General Underwriters (MGUs) and Managing General Agents (MGAs) that research, develop, and test new insurance products, according to Gov. Hochul’s press release. Up to $5 million in competitive grants are anticipated to be announced in 2023.

MacDonald added that it can very difficult to develop these kinds of insurance products that are necessary to help get climate technology and solutions into the market. But NYSERDA is confident this program will mitigate some of those challenges by connecting the companies creating insurance products with the assets, the solution providers, the renewable energy companies, and building owners and operators.

“Our goal with this program is really to accelerate the pace of that work. So, we’re hoping to take a process that currently can take years and years and shrink that window down,” MacDonald said. “So that in the course of a few years we’re seeing results, we’re seeing new novel business models and insurance solutions out there in the market.”