February 21, 2020
New York community solar was enacted in 2015 and has had a slow start here, as it has in many other states such as Minnesota. Community solar is a policy wherein the NYS DPS (New York State Department of Public Service) and Public Service Commission issued an order requiring all utilities to amend their tariffs for community solar in NYS or, as the PSC classifies it, CDG (Community Distributed Generation). Community Distributed Generation covers not only solar, but wind and fuel cell technology as well.
New York State had a thriving start to community solar with almost 1 GW in the interconnection queues of major investor-owned utility companies such as ConEd, National Grid, RG&E, NYSEG, Central Hudson and O&R. This large volume of projects prompted concern among the utilities and organizations known as the "Joint Utilities". A majority of the New York community solar projects that had been entered into the interconnection queue had been speculative projects. The "projects" came from developers such as Cypress Creek who had just submitted applications without proper site control. Part of this was a tactic to inflate volume and another aspect was the lack of public information around electric feeders and substations to properly qualify host sites. However, this large volume did prompt the Joint Utilities to have the NYS PSC amend the way that subscribers from NY community solar projects get compensated per kWh. Community solar in New York moved away from net metering into a mechanism called VDER, or the "Value Stack”. The Value Stack can be a 5%-15% discount compared to the traditional net metering credit that was originally anticipated.
Fast forward to 2020—community solar projects are finally completed and operational. The project finance market has become more comfortable with financing community solar projects with debt and equity. Institutional tax equity has even gotten comfortable with community solar projects and the market finally has the volume to attract the traditional banks providing tax equity.
YSG Solar has a very positive outlook on the New York community solar market. Organizations such as NYSERDA, NYSEIA and many others have spent countless hours working with various stakeholders to stimulate New York's community solar market.
YSG Solar is a project development vehicle responsible for commoditizing energy infrastructure projects. We work with long-term owners and operators to provide clean energy assets with stable, predictable cash flows. YSG's market focus is distributed generation and utility-scale projects located within North America.
Useful Links
YSG Solar is accepting subscribers for our community solar project in Brooklyn, New York. The project is located within ConEdison territory and NYISO load zone J. YSG's Community Solar project is also known as The Pitkin Project. Follow this link to learn more.
Community solar is simple and straightforward when you work with a reputable developer like YSG Solar. Contact YSG Solar today to learn how you could get involved and start saving money right away. We take care of the entire process from start to finish, streamlining the community solar model for you. Send us an email, or call at 212.389.9215 to learn more.