On August 28, CLP joined the Energy Democracy Alliance and other groups holding press conferences in six cities (NYC, Long Island, Kingston, Syracuse, Elmira, and Buffalo) with an urgent call to Governor Cuomo: Fix New York’s solar policy by restoring net metering – the old policy under which the utility bought any solar energy you contributed to the grid at the price you would have paid if you were buying that same electricity from the utility.

On Wednesday, June 27, businesses, organizations, and municipalities are invited to the launch and vendor show that will kick off the Ulster County Green Business Challenge.

On March 9, the Public Service Commission (PSC) adopted an Order changing the method utilities will use to compensate solar customers for the power they produce. The new policy will replace net-metering, which has been in place in New York since 1997 and which has contributed enormously to the growth of customer-sited solar projects in the Mid-Hudson region. Under the old rules, customers with solar arrays that feed electricity into the grid receive credit for the electricity they produce at the same rate they would pay the utility. These rules will still apply for existing renewable installations and for new residential and small commercial installations until 2020.  But new community solar projects, remote net-metered projects (such as solar at a municipal landfill), and large customer-sited projects (like a roof-top project at a hospital, university, or large grocery store) will be subject to new rules. For these projects, utilities will use a “Value Stack” tariff, compensating customers based on the benefits and costs of their power to the grid and, to a more limited extent, the environment. 

With an enormous backlog in applications to utilities for interconnection by companies interested in developing renewable projects greater than 50 kW, the PSC updated its rules and requirements on January 25 in an effort to “clear the queue,” and weed out the speculative or inactive projects from the serious projects so that well-developed projects may proceed. The new rules include fixed deadlines for developer action and “interim” cost-sharing requirements for any system upgrades necessary to connect projects to the grid. Included among the new rules is the requirement that developers obtain the property owner’s consent to develop the project, using a specified form.

The Rosendale Community Center packed the house for the workshop, “Scaling Up Solar: Exercising Caution with Large-Scale Solar Leases to Protect Area Farmers and Other Large Landowners.” This informational forum, co-sponsored by the Ulster County Climate Smart Committee, CLP and others, provided much needed legal, tax, and zoning information to landowners and municipal officials so that they can make more informed decisions about siting solar farms on their properties and in their communities.