LI Community Solar Meeting – Sept. 18
September 6, 2017
The meeting of the Long Island Community Solar Working Group was held on Monday September 18th 2 pm at the Sustainability Institute at Molloy College.
Chuck Schwartz
Green Long Island, Inc.
631-287-3270
chuck@ligreen.com
LI Community Solar is a project of Green Long Island, Inc., a LI based not-for-profit community development organization focused that provides innovative region wide energy and environmental programs. At this time over 5000 Long Island families have received Green Long Island services.
We can be reached at Green Long Island, Inc., Sustainability Institute at Molloy College, 7180 Republic Airport, Farmingdale NY 11735, 631-721-1908, info@ligreen.com
LIPA said “whoa”, and rejected this round, in investing in more off shore wind, new solar farms, and pretty much anything they had going.
http://www.newsday.com/long-island/source-lipa-rejects-planned-solar-farm-offshore-wind-project-1.13813172
Then, at yesterday’s board meeting, the attitude of some of them was that they “have time” to act.
Our volunteer Joanne was there to speak and told them these delays are a huge disappointment, and that no, they don’t have time to stop climate change by putting off decisions. Thank You Joanne!
Obviously, we are going to raise a giant stink that they have now reneged on their MANDATED 300 megawatts of renewables in the pipeline by 2018.
This is EXACTLY WHY these supposed mandates (“50% renewables by 2030” anyone? “up to 2400 megawatts of off shore wind by 2030”??) Its all meaningless when Every…Single….Time these state agencies fail to produce what is REQUIRED of themselves which are ALREADY so watered down to a minimal number and extended timeline in the first place.
Remember, the groups in the Off Shore Wind Alliance were pushing for what was thought a reasonably realistic and imperative first start of 5000 megawatts of off shore wind by 2025…
It does not bode well and it is nonsense to talk about a 25 or even 50 cent rate increase as being an issue for needed renewables, when every home was mandated to pay $4 a month for the profits bailout for upstate nuclear power plants with virtually no public input or response to objections.
The off shore wind campaign continues, as will our community solar effort to get the renewables we desperately need on to the grid… and Sea Cliff says GO!!
We had a great turnout at the launch of our reusable bag campaign at Creative Arts Studio in Sea Cliff as our first locality in Nassau. Volunteer members who join the All Our Energy team, can act to build and expand the campaign in their local community with us, and we will empower them to help push the campaign locally. Thanks for all the hard Work To John, Lorraine, and Tracy who got the Sea Cliff movement off the ground.
We are so proud to announce our
Together We Shine: Community Solar Campaign Launch Event
No sun? No roof? No Rebates?… No Problem!!
Can we build a community solar project?
Can we put together people who couldn’t otherwise get solar, with their own solar panels somewhere else? We’re going to find out and do it!
In light of inaction to address climate change, and with the local change to off shore wind 7-10 years away, all of us must act together now to displace fossil fuels’ pollution, clean our communities, and spearhead the coming renewable energy economy that benefits everyone.
EmPower Solar of Island Park is going all out to help residents of Lido Beach grab the solar dream.
EmPower Solar’s new Lido Beach community pricing plan, photo courtesy EmPower Solar
They recently announced their Lido Beach Community Solar Pricing Program. Born of meetings with local residents and civic groups, the idea has come to fruition and EmPower is offering a $750 discount plus an additional sliding scale of incentives for residents in the town of Lido Beach to go solar.
The more residents that go solar through the program, the bigger the discount they all get.
Their goal: 400 kW of solar by the summer.
To help you get there, EmPower Solar is offering Lido Beach homeowners an upfront discount on the price of your system. With an extra tiered community pricing system, the more homeowners who go solar, the more everyone saves.
As part of the program, they will be hosting a solar tour day and event on April 20, 2013.
Residents can see solar power systems right in their own neighborhood, see how they work, and talk directly with what EmPower refers to as their ambassadors [Em-bassadors? ; )].
To qualify for the Community discount, Lido Beach residents must sign their contract with EmPower Solar by the program deadline of May 31, 2013 and participate in at least one ambassador activity.
So Lido Beach residents, if you’ve ever been thinking about going solar, now is the time. Might I also mention that while solar prices have been going down, so have the incentives available, and it is unlikely they’ll continue to be this good.
There’s really just a question to ask with your current LIPA Bill :
what’s the payback period on that?
Never.
What’s the payback on a solar power system? 5 1/2 to 7 1/2 years is usually about average.
What are you doing about your share of pollution created for the electricity you use, in addition to your “carbon footprint”.
I personally like to think of it this way- are you planning to retire soon?
Wouldn’t it be nice to know that you were not going to have an electric bill for the remainder of your retirement? You know that electric bill isnt going to do anything but go up between now and then!
Too young to retire? Well may I suggest just retiring from paying an electric bill 5 to 7 years from now?
To find out for yourself, or to get more informatioon on the Solar Tour Event on April 20, please contact Tara Bono at the number below or at tbono@empowerces.com or follow the information below:
EmPower Solar contact Information
**for the record, All Our Energy is not affiliated with EmPower solar, we are just getting word out about a program available to residents. Please contact them for all related information.
Come to The Long Island Clean Energy Forum: Navigating NY’s Energy Crossroads. Tuesday December 4th 7:00 to 9:00 PM. This is what Long Island’s energy future should look like.
Come ready to learn your role in the push for clean energy…
So, what’s everybody doing next Tuesday, December 4, 2012 at 7PM?
“At this forum, you will hear from a panel of well-respected individuals in the clean energy field, including Adrienne Esposito of Citizen’s Campaign for the Environment, Peter Olmsted of the Vote Solar Initiative, Gordian Raacke of Renewable Energy Long Island, as well as a representative from the offshore wind company Deepwater Wind.” –
Please join the Sierra Club and the Green Sanctuary of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation at Shelter Rock on the evening of Tuesday, December 4th, 7 to 9 pm for a discussion on Long Island’s clean energy future. The forum will be held in the Social Hall of the UU Congregation at Shelter Rock at 48 Shelter Rock Rd, Manhasset, NY 11030. You can find directions here: http://www.uucsr.org/find.asp
The Clean Energy Forum will provide a great opportunity to learn more about the current turning point in our energy policy and which path we need to take to achieve the future we want to see. This will be an action oriented discussion so
come ready to learn your role in the push for clean energy.
Find all the information and attendee registration here:
Curious what you could be doing with solar power? Testing if an Electric Vehicle (EV) could work for you?
Check out this iPhone and Android app that puts the power of the sun in the palm of your hand.
You can now use the screen of your smartphone to simulate the active surface area of a solar panel, and receive an estimate of the solar resources in that position. In addition to that, the free app, available for iPhones or Android phones, also gives you information such as “hours of light generated…
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada- A Canadian billboard advertising company has refused an already paid-for ad from Greenpeace.
In an apparent attempt to hush opposition to larger and more powerful clients, who are currently spending millions promoting dirty energy, the advertising company refused this “outrageous” billboard ad.
Yes- the Great White North (or is that now oil-spill Brown?) are bought and paid for by oil, too!
So much is being spent, even opposition as un-controversial as this is being silenced.
There have been numerous recent spills and millions being spent by the dirty energy industries in pro fracking, pro-drilling, and pro…um “pipeline-ing”- millions being spent promoting the Keystone XL
___________ (you fill in the blank)
All in the name of trying to “clean up” their images and shift grassroots, groundswell public opinion that is already swelling against them.
Feel free to fill in that blank in the comments below….
Cuomo proposed competitive bidding to attract large-scale solar projects. … NYSERDA, has set out a plan to realise Cuomo’s goal, which the authority says could bring 269 MW of solar to the state from 2012-2015, and 110 MW some time after. NYSERDA calls the plan ‘aggressive but achievable’.
To attract industry investment, the state must provide a more consistent policy for long-term growth, say solar advocates. To that end, they have been pushing for a solar feed-in tariff (FiT)
(We ask “why only Industry Investment? Why only Solar?”),
…solar renewable energy credits (SRECs), or other methods to move the industry beyond developing hundreds of megawatts of solar into thousands of megawatts.
Cuomo also is opening up new opportunity for big solar projects through his new ‘Energy Highway’ initiative to upgrade the state’s aging infrastructure. As part of the (‘Energy Highway’ ) initiative, his office issued a formal solicitation in April 2012 seeking ideas … to fix various energy problems…. so that it reaches its target of getting 30% of its electricity from renewable energy by 2015 and more beyond that. The state hopes to draw $2 billion in private investment.
The article goes on to mention our local utility LIPA’s involvement, achievement and proactive stance in delivering utility scale solar at minimal cost to ratepayers.
Now if we could just get them all to agree that homeowners, non-homeowners and the public at large should be more easily and readily able to
Sell their rooftop solar into the grid at a realistically profitable price (similar to what they pay the big corporations).
Generate more energy than they use (this is already too limited – to only 5% above use in most cases!)
Have access to participate in off-property “virtual metering”, “community” or “cooperative” projects (like community wind in Minnesota) where individuals can invest their money to generate any viable renewable energy (wind and eventually ocean/wave as well) and sell it to and through the grid. Millions of apartment dwellers can never be investors, and are relegated to be just “consumers”, never providers.
That’s not to say individuals shouldn’t do what they can with solar on their roof, but if we need more, why not pay New Yorkers for it and allow more?
News flash: it is not a free market out there. These types of projects are near impossible to do because current tax code and utility laws are set up to keep the already picked winners in their monopolized place at the top, and keep what I’d like to call “democratic energy” from expelling them from that position.
No: you cannot invest in renewable energy except through megacorporation stocks or a small generator on your property that only offsets your use.
This is the number one thing keeping renewable energy and the “green economy” in it’s so-called place. It is going to take a “green revolution” to get there.
Governor Cuomo it’s a start, but a half one at best. Why are we soliciting mega corporations, with development money that guarantees no results, This, when the average New Yorker, who would love to, cannot invest in renewable energy other than offsetting only their own household use and only on their own home, or by buying stock in, say BP, as one of the few mega companies with a dedicated solar division? That doesn’t allow New Yorkers, to do more!
That’s the question that defines All Our Energy’s entire existence.
Would you like to invest in renewable energy? Let’s find out how to do that and get things done differently, together!
