Community Solar

New York announces Solar for All program

New York announces Solar for All program
(Image by stanthonys solar from Pixabay)

New York Governor Kathy Hochul has announced that the New York State Public Service Commission (PSC) has adopted a Statewide Solar for All program that aims to significantly spur the development of more solar and retail energy storage projects in New York State.

From now on, the Statewide Solar for All program will be administered by each of the investor-owned utilities that serve electric energy affordability program (EAP) customers. In addition, the PSC took action to improve New York’s opt-in Community Distributed Generation (CDG) program.

“We are ensuring more New Yorkers than ever before will have access to clean, solar energy so we can build a healthy future,” Governor Hochul said in a statement. “The Statewide Solar for All program will generate significant benefits for our health, our environment, our economy, and for the thousands of New Yorkers who will see lower electric bills.”

“The Statewide Solar for All program approved today will reduce costs to install solar power, increase operational efficiencies, and provide equitable access to community solar,” added PSC Chair Rory M. Christian. “The initiative’s focus on energy affordability fits within a balanced community solar policy by prioritizing benefits for low-income households and driving the growth of community solar. This initiative will also allow CDG storage projects to participate in the program — creating a simple offtake strategy that provides bill savings to low-income customers — all while providing meaningful benefits to the grid.”

The Statewide Solar for All program’s model will combine two state programs — the utility-managed Energy Affordability Program (EAP) and market-based community solar — to efficiently deliver clean energy savings to low-income households. The new program will begin by delivering an electric bill credit to EAP customers who reside in a disadvantaged community with the ultimate goal of delivering a minimum of $40 in annual bill credits to more than 800,000 households once the program has fully matured.

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The program pools credits associated with renewable generation and distributes those credits on the bills of EAP customers. A robust community solar market will offer low-income customers the opportunity to participate in both their EAP Solar for All program and an opt-in CDG project, affording low-income customers additional community solar savings on top of their EAP bill discounts, per the Governor’s office.

In addition, PSC granted CDG developers the flexibility to offer up to three different savings rates to opt-in CDG subscribers. Within one year, the state’s investor-owned utilities will be required to implement the capability to allow for multiple savings rates based on the cost of supply of the electricity for a CDG project. The Governor’s office believes this action will not only grow New York State’s solar industry but allow for a greater number of households, including low-income households, to benefit from community solar projects across the state.

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