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Benefits Of Solar Energy For LI Business Owners

copiague fd solar project

Operating a business on Long Island has its challenges and commercial property owners are always looking for ways to lower operating expenses, make their businesses more competitive and increase their bottom line.

The Long Island Power Authority, or LIPA along with its operating unit, PSEG-LI, have been working to meet New York State energy conservation efforts, by providing commercial property owners additional incentives to help them transition their properties to solar energy. The driving force behind these incentives is a program called Community Solar.

Here’s a rundown on some of the recent announcements LIPA/PSEG-LI made that should be of interest to all business owners in Hauppauge Industrial Park.

Community Solar in New York

Community Solar is the process of installing solar at one location and allowing electric customers at multiple remote locations the ability to save money by becoming subscribers to a “solar farm,” as long as those subscribers are located somewhere within the same electric utility as where the solar system is built. This program has been available on Long Island since January 2018. In an effort to increase awareness and accessibility to solar energy, LIPA is boosting monetary incentives for Community Solar.

With the new plan, LIPA is adding to the program a community credit of five centers ($.05) per kilowatt hour.

Furthermore, a brand-new rebate called “community adder” is being offered. This rebate is for $200 a kilowatt for any project that is no more than 750 kilowatts.

So, for example, let’s say that your project is 500 kilowatts. You can expect a $100,000 rebate amount.

Typically, a community solar project involves the building owner leasing their roof space to a solar developer in exchange for a monetary lease payment. The solar developer then builds the solar energy project at no cost to the building owner and then handles the subscription acquisition and management in-house. The credit increase and the new rebate are expected to help make these solar energy projects easier for developers to cover financially.

In addition, PSEG will be taking over subscription management in 2021, helping to reduce subscription acquisition and management costs, allowing developers ability to increase the lease payments to the building owners.

Solar Communities Program for Commercial Solar Power

LIPA also recently introduced a brand-new program known as Solar Communities. This program offers discounts for both moderate- and low-income individuals who pay for utility services.

Here’s how the program works. The program auctions 25-megawatt contracts for solar on Long Island, with 20 megawatts of this being dedicated to moderate- and low-income customers.

In addition, the authority said it intends to grow the area’s solar market to more than two times its current size. It also plans to offer over 3,000 moderate- and low-income customers energy discounts during the next several years.

How We Can Help

We at Harvest Power have helped numerous commercial clients to make the switch to solar since 2008, and we can do the same for your business this year.

Contact us to learn more about the Solar Communities and Community Solar programs, as well as how these programs can help your bottom line in the years ahead.