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A program from the state of New York, in the United States. helps bring solar power to low- and moderate-income (LMI) housing by providing pre-development grants and technical assistance. The Clean Energy States Alliance considers the program a model for other states.
A New York State program is helping low- and moderate-income homeowners get community solar projects up and running.
The program provides grant funding and technical support in the pre-development phase, including site identification, establishment of site control, initial interconnection selection, structural analysis, site feasibility, financial analysis, and construction. Obtaining project financing or improving credit for the project.
The program has helped the New York City nonprofit Urban Homesteading Assistance Board (UHAB), which supports affordable housing cooperatives in New York, along with its nonprofit partner Solar One, to help add solar power to 22 cooperative buildings. UHAB conducts outreach activities among co-op residents, while Solar One designs projects, prepares cost estimates, and selects solar and/or storage system construction companies.
The nonprofit affordable housing provider Fifth Avenue Committee (FAC) in New York was supported by the program to install 255 kW of solar power in seven of its buildings, resulting in monthly energy savings of about $25 per household subscriber. FAC, owner and manager of its buildings, established FAC Solar LLC to develop community solar projects. The two entities plan to explore solar and storage projects for their other 40 properties.
A report by the Clean Energy States Alliance (CESA) provides case studies of the two initiatives, stating that the New York State program “may serve as a model” for such programs in other states.
The program contributes to New Yorks goal of reaching 10 GW of distributed solar power by 2030. To date, it has supported 43 projects with grants of up to $200,000, the amount of which depends on the scope of the proposed project.
Without the support of the program, the CESA case study says, nonprofit affordable housing providers “may find it difficult to overcome a lack of financial resources, market experience, or staff capacity to run a solar project and/or or storage from the concept stage to operation.”
CESA says that lenders are reluctant to grant loans for the pre-development costs of solar or solar-plus-storage projects to benefit low- and moderate-income residents “because these projects are considered risky by many financial institutions commercial."
CESA will host a webinar on the New York State program on September 19.
CESAs Solar with Justice Initiative has produced several reports on the collaborative work between states and communities that aims to “guarantee that the benefits of solar energy are shared equitably.” |
