ALBANY - New York state has fallen short of an early target in its multi year effort to boost the use of wind power and other clean energy sources.

The Pataki administration adopted a policy in 2004 to increase New York's reliance on renewable energy to 25 percent by 2013. At that time, regulators set up yearly targets to increase renewable energy use in steady increments.

The target for 2006 was to purchase 1.1 million megawatt hours of renewable energy. The state has fallen short of that goal by about a third, according to figures from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority.

Industry and government officials note that the yearly targets are non binding. They say the lag reflects an evolving market and that the state could be back on target within a few years.

"The potential is there to reach those targets, particularly with wind," said Carol Murphy, executive director of the Alliance for Clean Energy New York.

With a new round of bids due in January, NYSERDA's John Saintcross said the authority could land enough contracts to bring New York back up to target levels by 2008.