SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Sustainable energy is good for the environment, but bad for the bank account.
In some areas, it is not even an option yet but New York State is the leader in conversion to clean energy, according to the solar companies.
Now in the Syracuse area, you can get what is effectively a green energy subscription in place of your usual energy expenses. It might be the new normal; according to the New York State Energy and Development Authority, the state aims to have zero emissions on the energy front by 2040.
“They are definitely some aggressive goals, but definitely on the road to accomplishing them,” said Executive Director of Community Solar at Nautilus Solar Energy Eric LaMora.
LaMora says the point of community solar is the “community” aspect; it’s about equitable energy that anyone can get their hands on.
Community solar works by giving you what is essentially a “share” or “subscription” of the solar panels somewhere away from your home.
Community solar is usually enacted by a state legislature passing laws that allow companies like Nautilus to come in and build solar farms and then offer solar energy to subscribers. LaMora says they can do it at a lower cost.
Anyone within the Syracuse area can sign up and receive the benefits of community solar, which amounts to a 10% discount on your energy charges.
Right now, the equivalent of two gigawatts are installed, which powers 400,000 homes. The goal is to have 10 gigawatts done by 2030, which equates to roughly 2,000,000 homes powered.
The company looks at how much energy your household consumed in the last year, and assigns a portion of the farm’s “share.”
“That share every month generates credits, from the solar energy, so the energy goes into the utility grid, and then the utility tracks it, we tell them how much to give to you specifically, and then they assign that to your utility bill every month.”
It is a move that will make the transition to zero-emission by 2040 much easier on Syracuse neighbors.
“We will have a total of six projects in the Syracuse area, three of which are operational right now. And what that means is that anyone can produce the energy created by our solar farms.”
The biggest point of subscription-based energy is the fact that anyone can subscribe to it. That accessibility might be the key to a completely green Syracuse area in urban and rural communities.
To sign up, click here.
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