By: Dave Lucas
Source: WAMC Northeast Public Radio – CLICK HERE TO LISTEN
A new community solar farm at the Port of Albany is throwing a lifeline to low-income residents facing mounting electric bills.
Citizens Energy Corporation’s JOE-4-SUN low-income community solar program provides electricity savings while making renewable energy more accessible. Eligible residents can receive energy credits providing up to 20% in savings on their electricity bill. JOE-4-SUN is already providing electric savings to 2,200 households in New York and Massachusetts.
Kristina Perez is Citizens’ director of charitable programs. “This is our eighth JOE-4-SUN low-income community shared solar site, and we are thrilled to sign up qualifying New York residents for this program. My team and I have been out in the community for the last three or four months at food pantries, educational centers, trying to get out word about citizens energy, and we look forward to working with everyone for years to come, as we will be here for quite a while, it is important for citizens energy to meet the people where they are. So we want to make it as easy as possible for people to sign up for this program,” Perez said.
Perez expects the solar array will go online in August. She says the immediate goal is to get 250 households on board with the possibility of adding a few more. Forty residences have completed the application process, have been approved, and should start seeing lower utility bills in September. Perez says there are approximately another 100 applications pending.
Citizens Energy President Joe Kennedy III, a former Massachusetts Congressman, says the new solar installation at the port will reduce energy costs for those households over the course of the next 20 years.
“The heat index once again, past 100 degrees here in Albany this week, and temperatures have been in the 90s,” Kennedy said. “We are just past the middle of July, with a lot of summer still to go. A friend of mine reminded me just the other day, though, that this is the coldest summer we will have, in all likelihood, for the rest of our lives. And this is climate change, and we must do all that we can to stave off its effects for everyone. A critical piece of that is ensuring that low income and marginalized communities are not left behind in a push for a sustainable renewable future, and have access to renewable energy.”
New York Lt. Governor Antonio Delgado says the solar farm will bring immediate relief to Albany families.
“We are seeing out in central New York and the Mohawk Valley this week, with the extreme weather events on the rise that there is no measure you can put on in terms of the economic harm and the health impacts when these things settle in. At the same time, it’s important that in tackling the crisis with action, we do so in a way that does not unduly burden New Yorkers with high energy costs that they already have. This requires contributions from all levels of government and all sectors of our economy. The government cannot do this alone, and that is why we need partners like citizens energy, whether it’s installing solar panels or going through the steps to change service providers, it can often feel daunting and out of reach for folks to really make the commitment to reducing their own carbon footprint. But today, through [the] JOE-4-SUN program, we are making this goal a reality for folks,” Delgado said.
Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan says the solar array is just the beginning.
“Not only do we now have this incredible infrastructure and resource and opportunity for our residents to get all of their energy from renewable sources, but also do it in an affordable way. But we are in the midst of converting hundreds of units of low income housing to a geothermal loop that will heat and cool low income housing for our residents, and so we are starting in the communities that are often most harmed by decisions that are made without thinking about how those who are most vulnerable are going to be able and to afford it and be impacted by it,” said Sheehan.