Posts Tagged ‘Solar funding’
LIPA Restarting Solar Rebates: Possibly December 1st
On November 23, 2010 Governor Paterson announced that $15 million has been allocated to the Long Island Power Authority (LIPA) for residential and large-scale solar energy projects. $8.3 million will go directly to LIPA’s Solar Pioneer program that provides rebates for residential installations. Strong statements of support by numerous political leaders in New York indicate the growing significance of solar energy to the state. Please see the Press Release below for further details.
With a fresh injection of funds, we expect that LIPA will restart the solar program on December 1st, most likely at $1.75 / watt up to 10 kW for residential customers. We will notify you as soon as we hear official details. Please stay tuned for further information.
Official Press Release
http://www.state.ny.us/governor/press/11232010-15MillionFederalStimulusFunds.html
LIPA REBATE CHANGE
We are pleased to announce that LIPA has extended the 2010 solar rebate program. Here are the program details:
1. Solar Pioneer (Residential):
There will be one (1) additional 750 kW block at $1.75/Watt for the Solar Pioneer Program. The 750 kW block will become effective 8:00 AM EST on October 1, 2010. Once the block is fully subscribed no further applications will be accepted until January 1, 2011.
For up-to-date information on the Residential Solar Pioneer Program, please refer to LIPA’s website at http://www.lipower.org/residential/efficiency/renewables/solar.html
2. Solar-Entrepreneur (Commercial/Munis/NFPs/Schools)
There will be one (1) additional 750 kW block at $1.75/Watt For Profit, $2.75/Watt Non-Profit, for the Solar Entrepreneur Program. The 750 kW block will become effective 8:00 AM EST on October 1, 2010. Once the block is fully subscribed no further applications will be accepted until January 1, 2011.
For up-to-date information Commercial and Non-Profit Solar Entrepreneur Program can be found here: http://www.lipower.org/commercial/efficiency/solar.html
If you would like to proceed with a solar electric system this year we encourage you to contact us soon. Please call our Sales Manager Joe Cordes at (516) 286-1477 at your earliest convenience to get started.
Energy Stimulus Money Slow to Spend, But Making Strides for Solar on Long Island and New York State
Of the $3.2 billion that the economic stimulus package of 2009 allocated towards energy efficiency and conservation, only 8.4% had been spent as of the beginning of this month. An Audit Report was released by the Department of Energy last week examining the status of funds granted to the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant Program under the Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The DOE disbursed most of the available funds for projects that would increase energy efficiency and reduce energy use and fossil fuel emissions. However, after a year only $269.7 million had been spent, producing or saving just 2,265 jobs.
http://www.ig.energy.gov/documents/OAS-RA-10-16.pdf
Why the delays in spending? Low levels of spending and job creation were clearly not the desired outcome of this program. But the one-year analysis found impediments to implementation including administrative and regulatory issues at the federal, state, and local levels. A shortage of Department staff and abundance of federal controls have made it difficult for local governments to spend money as planned. More details on these issues can be found in the status report.
The Department of Energy had the chance to respond to this audit and argued that the program was more successful than made to appear by this report; much of the money has actually been committed to projects so there is promise of spending in the near future.
What does this mean for solar? Although most stimulus grants for renewable energy technologies are given through other areas, like the State Energy Program leg of the Recovery Act, the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block includes solar power on government buildings. According to the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) and Governor Paterson back in March 2010, $24 million of this block funding was awarded for clean energy projects in small municipalities across New York state. Plans for this money included both solar photovoltaic and thermal systems on various facilities including fire stations, libraries, and town halls. Here is the breakdown of funds for Long Island:
http://www.nyserda.org/economicrecovery/documents/rfp10_awardees.pdf
It’s great to see that New York municipalities are on board and in many cases leading the mission of spreading solar energy and efficiency!
Act Now – LIPA Rebate Funds are Running Out!
If you are at all considering going solar, you don’t want to miss out on the fleeting opportunity to have up to 35% of your solar electric system paid for by LIPA.
The current rebate is $2.00/watt (up to 10KW) for a residential solar electric system. That means LIPA will potentially pay up to $20,000 of the system cost! However, it is possible that the LIPA Rebate will run out in the next two weeks and there are no guarantees that rebates will be available in the future.
The chart below was taken from the LIPA webpage:
This graph shows that as of August 6, 2010 the Solar Pioneer Rebate (which is the Residential program) is almost gone. There are only 200 KW left for the year – that’s only 20 residential systems for all LIPA customers! Just to give you some more insight, in the last three weeks the block went from 500KW to 800KW. Within the next couple of weeks, the Solar Electric Rebate will likely disappear for the rest of the year.
If you would like to proceed with a solar electric system, there’s no time to waste if you want to secure these rebates. Please call our Sales Manager, Joe Cordes, at your earliest convenience at 516-286-1477 and we can get you started. We will have to submit your Rebate Application before they close the program for new applicants!
Invest with confidence. Act now.
NY Solar gets boost with ARRA funding
On Monday, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) announced the awardees of an ARRA funding opportunity (RFP 1613) for energy efficiency, renewable energy, and clean fleet projects. These projects will help to make New York a leader in clean technology, foster the development of new jobs, and improve the environmental quality of NY communities. The funding will help to launch the installation of commercial size solar installations throughout the state. Numerous fantastic projects will be completed as a result of this funding. On Long Island and in New York City alone, more than $3 million was awarded to install nearly ½ MW of solar.
For this opportunity, applicants were limited to municipal governments, public K-12 schools, public universities or colleges, public or private hospitals, and 501(c)(3) non-profits. Recipients submitted for the funding in November 2009 by completing applications that included cost-benefit and environmental impact analyses of their proposed projects. Funding was allocated to 7 different regions within the State, so applicants only competed against those within their regions.
Funding was exhausted for most regions, but $6.8 million remains for NYC and $1.6 million remains for Western New York. Applications for this remaining funding are due April 7, 2010.
Congratulations to all the awardees!
