NY Solarize Campaign Successes, Plans

Several local solar projects are among the more than 900 underway across New York, and more are set to begin this spring.

The Solarize Westchester 2016 campaigns now underway offer discounted solar pricing through carefully vetted solar contractors vetted by and independent third party and by the municipalities themselves. A number of events are coming up including 5-7 p.m. Thursday at the Chappaqua Tavern, 76 King St, Chappaqua. You can learn about this community-backed campaign and hear from Town Supervisor Rob Greenstein and other Chappaqua residents about why they made the switch to solar. Complimentary refreshments.

Also, Solarize Hudson Valley will launch March 5 three new four-month long campaigns that will include commercial property owner opportunities and include a financing piece for those. Watch for the launch announcements at http://solarize-hudsonvalley.org/

See a list of communities here that are participating in the second round of Solarize campaigns.

The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority provided a total of $365,000 in technical and marketing support for one batch of 2015 Solarize campaigns and also money for the independently-run Solarize Westchester.

These campaigns saved participants a total of more than $1.4 million on upfront purchase costs for solar, state officials said. Campaigns are managed by community partnerships that include local municipalities, planning organizations, sustainability groups, state legislators and business groups.

“New York is blazing the trail when it comes to transitioning to sustainable energy practices and building a clean energy economy,” said Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo in a prepared statement. “By helping communities across the state install solar technologies, we are opening the door to new opportunities that will lower household energy costs while protecting the environment years into the future.”

In the Mid-Hudson, 305 projects on Cuomo’s list include ones done through Solarize Bedford – Mt. Kisco, Solarize Cortland – Croton, Solarize Mamaroneck – Larchmont, and Solarize Ossining – Briarcliff.

Solarize Westchester was run independently though it was approved and funded by NYSERDA.

The very successful Westchester Solarize campaign was run under the Energize NY banner and directed by Nina Orville. Many of her outreach tactics are now being modeled by other community Solarize campaigns, said Heather Flournoy of Energize NY.

Solarize Westchester brought Solarize campaigns, designed to make it easier and more affordable for homeowners and commercial property owners to install solar electric systems, to 16 municipalities in the county. As of the end of 2015, over 2,000 property owners had inquired whether their properties were good candidates for solar
power and 248 had signed contracts to install the technology, totaling over 2 MW of clean energy.

These installations will provide well over $17 million of energy savings over their expected lives. Total installations will rise substantially in the first quarter of 2016 with the second round of Solarize Westchester.

Solarize Westchester also includes outreach to municipalities to encourage adoption of solar-friendly permitting and zoning for roof-mounted solar photovoltaics. As of the end of 2015, sixteen municipalities had adopted changes to aspects of their permitting processes, most with support from the Solarize Westchester team, and seven more have changes under active review.

From 2012-15, New York has seen an increase of 575 percent in the amount of solar power installed and in development, which has also generated a significant increase in the number of solar-related jobs across the State. According to a national report announced in February, New York’s solar industry is now the fourth largest in the nation and currently employs more than 8,250 workers, an increase of more than 3,000 jobs since 2013. In 2016, double-digit job growth is expected to continue with another 1,000 additional jobs created as a result of the state’s robust solar project pipeline.