Community solar programs in New York are now providing accessible clean energy to consumers who cannot host on-site solar — including households, public organizations, and business owners.
Approximately half of U.S. households and businesses are unable to install rooftop solar due to space, lack of sun exposure or ownership limitations, according to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). Community Solar gives residential and business customers — including those who rent — an easy way to benefit from solar without installing or maintaining any equipment.
Now, a new program called Community Distributed Generation (CDG) is bringing off-site solar benefits specifically to National Grid service territory. If you pay a National Grid bill, you are eligible to join. This article is a quick overview of how this new CDG solar program works and how businesses in National Grid can get involved.
CDG Program in National Grid Territory
Community Distributed Generation (CDG) is a New York utility-regulated program that allows communities to benefit from affordable renewable energy; which can encompass a mix of sources, including solar power. Like traditional community solar programs, a participating solar project would still be located nearby in your community, but not at your facility or home.
What’s unique about the CDG program is that it now allows the electricity to be shared between both residential (60%) and commercial customers (40%). The commercial customers are known as “anchor tenants,” which can be commercial entities, such as small or medium-sized businesses.
Each month, anchor tenants along with the residential customers, receive a credit from National Grid that reduces the overall cost of their monthly electric bill. Over time, this adds up to significant savings because the cost of electricity to the local solar project is at a lower rate than the credit from National Grid.
Community Distributed Generation (CDG): How it Works
Why New York? Ambitious State-Wide Energy Goals
The State of New York has some of the most progressive renewable energy programs in the United States. With a goal of reaching 100% of clean electricity by 2040, New York’s Reforming the Energy Vision (REV) is a comprehensive energy strategy enacted by Governor Andrew Cuomo that is aimed at helping consumers make more informed energy choices as well as growing the state’s clean energy economy. Along with these initiatives, the Empire State also made a goal of hitting 3 GW of energy storage by 2030 and 6 GW of distributed generation (DG) solar by 2025.
In an effort to support the growth of new solar, a program called NY-SUN was created to help make solar energy more accessible and affordable for New York residents and business owners. If you are a New York utility customer, you’re likely already familiar with some of the various incentives and financing programs, ranging from the solar MW block to the NY Storage adder.
A major component of NY-SUN is community solar, a rapidly growing program that is gaining popularity across New York. That’s because when it comes to solar, there is no one-size-fits-all solution. Every electricity consumer has different needs and requirements when it comes to available space, demand and financing.
For example, those with enough on-site space, a large load profile, or cash on hand might benefit from purchasing an on-site solar structure, such as a parking canopy. For those who are space or cash constrained, a community solar subscription would be a better option, such as through National Grid’s CDG program.
Now Is the Time to Join
Any National Grid customer can now subscribe and access the energy produced by a solar project as part of the CDG program. Even if you already receive a portion of your electricity from an Energy Services Provider, you are still eligible to join.
The CDG program is bringing solar access to more customers than ever before, including local business owners who would have otherwise been left out of traditional community solar programs and a lower electricity bill. In addition, the adoption of the CDG program is helping New York move closer towards its ambitious renewable energy goals; something that cannot be achieved without ample participation.
However, access to solar in New York is filling up and rates are better than ever for businesses. Under NY-SUN’s MW block, certain regions and sectors are only allotted a certain number of megawatts, and access comes on a first-come, first-serve basis. This means that in order to participate in solar programs, New Yorkers need to move quickly.
Interested in getting involved? You’re in luck because ForeFront Power offers shovel-ready projects with space for local businesses to join as anchor tenants. You can contact Ana Diaz-Puskar by clicking below.
Why ForeFront Power?
ForeFront Power is one of the most respected solar and storage developers in the country. We are well-known for our community solar projects across the US. A sampling of our accomplishments includes:
- We have developed 200 MW of community solar to date.
- ForeFront Power was one of the first community solar developers in New York state to receive permits and interconnection and to finance community solar projects that exclusively serve residential customers.
- We developed a record-breaking 6 MW community solar project in Saratoga County, New York which serves over 1,000 residential customers. The project benefitted from incentives from the New York Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) and contributed to their 2GW achievement in the State. Please read the project’s press release with NYSERDA for more information: https://www.forefrontpower.com/nyserda-2gw-milestone/.
- In total, we have 50 MW of New York Community solar in operation serving five utility territories and have an additional 40+ MW in the pipeline.
Interested in learning more?
We would love to discuss how our solutions might be a fit for your organization. Contact one of our solar, storage, or e-mobility experts today: