States make good on renewable energy pledges and plans.
This week Standard Solar announced that it would be acquiring five distributed solar energy projects totaling 27 MW of generation capacity set to be built in New York and Rhode Island. Standard Solar will engineer, build, finance, own and operate all five projects which are expected to commence construction over the next six to nine months. Standard Solar is acquiring the projects from developer Freepoint Solar.
The three projects in Rhode Island, totaling approximately 13 MW, are part of the state’s Renewable Energy Growth (REG) Program. Rhode Island’s REG Program supports the development of 560 MW of new renewable energy projects in the state between 2015 and 2020 and enables customers to sell their generation output under long-term tariffs at a fixed price.
The 14-MW worth of projects in New York state, home to the NY-Sun Program, are community solar projects, which allows homeowners and small businesses to purchase a share of a solar project and use the energy produced by the community solar farm to offset a greater portion of a home, or communities’, or business’ electric bill with predictable rates and terms without having to install solar on their building. .
“These projects are part of the growing DG revolution in the United States, where solar projects interconnect into smaller voltage lines and feed directly into the local electrical system. Standard Solar is proud to be working with Freepoint Solar to build out this portfolio of DG solar projects resulting in local power for local use,” said Harry Benson, Director of Business Development for Standard Solar.
The five ground-mount projects will generate revenue through taxes and local economic development for the states and local governments, and produce nearly 115 gigawatt-hours of electricity.
