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Reforming the Energy Vision or REV is Governor Cuomo’s energy strategy for New York that pushes consumers to make more informed energy choices to help protect the environment.
NCC’s Isis Young tell us what Blue Rock Solar and Renovus Solar in CNY are doing to help this initiative.
Isis Young
Community solar is on the rise here in CNY as its uses energy from solar farms to give electricity to companies and residents in the area.
Community solar is broken up into two groups, the subscription model and the shared model.
Sam Doubleday
(” We’re in the subscription model of community solar, so people can join our solar farm and get electricity or green credits on your electricity bill at a discount to what they’re already paying the utility.”)
Isis Young
Blue Rock Solar works with New York State Electric and Gas and National Grid to provide solar electricity to companies in the Central New York area. This subscription acts a 10% discount on their bill for the year.
Sam Doubleday
(“You’re essentially reserving that electricity. It just flows through as normal electricity does, but its essentially a credit.”)
Isis Young
(” And for homeowners in CNY who want to be apart of community solar, they’re not out of luck as farms like this one created by Renovus solar service just home owners in the CNY area.”)
Steve Simon
(” Community solar with the shared ownership model, people own their panels that live on our solar farm. So the solar farm is going to have hundreds even thousands of panels, and each of them is owned by an individual. But they’ve made an investment in doing that. They’re purchasing panels.”)
Isis Young
The investment can range anywhere from under 10,000 dollars to 40,000 depending on how much energy your home uses. The investments come in a 25 year plan with two upfront discounts.
Steve Simon
(“There’s a federal income tax credit of 30% of the cost of the system, so its an actual cash refund to them. And then there’s New York state 25% tax credit.”)
Isis Young
Simon says in most cases, owners get a return on their investment in 8-10 years, leaving the remainder of the 25 year plan to free electricity.
2019 will be the last year the federal income tax of 30% is applied before it starts to decrease.
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According to Renovus Solar, 80% of homes Nationwide are not good candidates for solar installations on their homes, but community solar allows residents to participate in the use of solar energy.
Community solar is just one way that businesses in Central New York are working to fulfill Governor Andrew M. Cuomo’s Reforming Energy Vision (REV). The energy strategy pushes consumers to make more informal energy choices to help protect the environment.
Community solar focuses on using solar power for electricity under two models.
The first model is the subscription model where businesses can subscribe to getting electricity from a solar farm. Blue Rock Solar in Syracuse particularly focuses on this service.
The subscription is shown through a 10% deduction on the electricity bill, which is highlighted as “green credits.” There are no costs associated to the subscription model.
“We mainly work with warehouses and churches. More and more commercial entities are starting to go green,” said Sam Doubleday, Project Manager at Blue Rock Solar.
The second model is the shared model which allows homeowners in CNY to purchase individual solar panels from farms and use as their electricity. According to Renovus Solar, 80% of homes nationwide are not good candidates for solar installations on their homes, so the shared model can act as a solution. Renovus Solar in Ithaca is the sole business in CNY selling this method.
“This method is for people who want to be involved in solar energy in the long term, but do not want solar panels on their homes,” said Renovus Sales Representative, Steve Simon. “The standard plan is for 25 years and the total investment tracks anywhere from under $10,000 to $40,000.”
Renovus Solar owns 13 solar farms in CNY, of which all are sold out using the shared model.
