Solar power in New York City may finally be having its moment.
The
number of residential projects across the five boroughs has risen to
more than 5,300 this year
from 186 in 2011, according to state
officials, and there are another 1,900 in the pipeline. The solar boom has been prompted by a 70 percent drop in installation costs in recent years, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association, along with the streamlining of government approvals and incentives.
The
upfront cost for installing solar panels on a single-family house runs
between $20,000 and $50,000, but federal, state and city incentives and
tax credits can cut that cost in half, said David Sandbank, the director
of the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority’s NY-Sun
initiative, and homeowners say that once solar panels are up and
running, monthly energy bills can fall by as much as 85 percent.
Most of the city’s existing solar projects are on single-family houses on Staten Island, but townhouse owners in Brooklyn are getting on board, and owners of apartment buildings in the Bronx and Queens are also starting to consider ways to harness the sun’s power.
The solar industry itself has surged. According to the city’s Economic Development Corporation,
five solar installers were operating in the five boroughs in 2005, but
by 2015, the number had increased to about 55 companies, employing about
2,700 workers.
“Solar
was a niche market in New York in 2009,” Mr. Sandbank said. “Now you
have major commitments from government officials that have made solar
more affordable.”
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo has called for half of the state’s electricity needs to come from renewable resources by 2030, while New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio wants greenhouse gas emissions in the city
cut 80 percent by 2050. To that end, Mr. de Blasio last week unveiled a
new 3,152-panel rooftop solar installation at the Brooklyn Navy Yard,
as a step toward the goal of generating 100 megawatts of renewable
energy on public buildings by 2025.
Ann
Schaetzel, 70, a filmmaker, and Richard Barber, 63, a TV producer and
editor, recently converted their two-family home in Gowanus, Brooklyn,
to solar power,
after being inspired by a neighbor who installed solar photovoltaic
panels on his roof a few years ago. “I never thought I could afford it,”
Ms. Schaetzel said.
She
joined what is called a solar purchasing group with four other
homeowners in her area through the Here Comes Solar program, organized
by Solar One, a nonprofit. The
homeowners sat through dozens of meetings to learn about solar energy —
including financing options and the city’s permitting process. As a
group, they were able to negotiate a 20 percent discount on installation
costs.
Ms.
Schaetzel purchased a 4.25 kilowatt solar system, which was up and
running in March, with 14 solar panels perched on her rooftop. The
average system for a home in New York City is about 6.5 kilowatts. The
installers determined the optimal size for Ms. Schaetzel’s home based on
her monthly bills.
Ms.
Schaetzel’s electricity bill in August was $36.10 for a service
connection charge to Con Edison, a fraction of the $250.19 bill she paid
in August 2015. The connection to Con Edison is required since owners
must use the utility’s grid to push back any excess power their solar
system produces, and also to have access to electricity if, say, there’s
a run of bad weather.
Solar
panels occasionally short circuit and need replacing. Most solar panels
come with a 25-year manufacturer’s warranty but generally require
little maintenance. Ms. Schaetzel said her 14-panel system cost $27,225,
which was cut to $6,925 after incentives, credits and rebates.
It
took Ms. Schaetzel about two years from her first meeting to get her
solar system connected, but policy changes have trimmed that time frame
to about a year, said Christopher Neidl, the director of the Here Comes
Solar program at Solar One.
Tria
Case, the director of sustainability at the City University of New
York, said that coordination between government entities, utilities and
installers has been “streamlined so it would be easier for folks to
enter the solar process.”
The
city’s Department of Buildings now can issue a permit for a home solar
system in a matter of days, not weeks. Websites have also been created
to make it easier to join a solar purchasing group, and also to check your home’s solar capacity.
Steven
Tornquist, 40, and Sabrina Tornquist, 39, own a single-family house
with solar panels on the roof in Eltingville, Staten Island. He works
for his family’s company, Tornquist Plumbing & Heating; she is a
teacher’s aide. They interviewed three installers before choosing American Solar Partners, in part because the firm, based in Mount Vernon, N.Y., used union contractors.
Mrs.
Tornquist said that Samara Levine, the firm’s managing director, helped
demystify what can be a complicated topic. Ms. Levine explained the
billing system, known as net metering, through which homeowners can be
credited for any excess energy they feed back to the electric grid.
Mrs.
Tornquist said it was important to understand her new meter, which
counts backward if more energy is produced by the solar panels than is
used in the house.
“It’s
incredible that our meter runs backwards,” she said. “And if I see the
meter start to run forward, I start turning off our lights.”
Continue reading the main story
The
40 panels on the roof cost the couple about $53,000, and they paid
about $5,000 upfront. They received $11,200 back, thanks to federal,
state and city incentives and tax credits. The couple decided to take
out two loans to pay off the rest of the bill. One loan is from the
state energy authority and is paid at the same time as their monthly Con
Ed bill, totaling less than $200 per month.
Mrs.
Tornquist said the electricity bill averaged about $320 per month
before they went solar. After the system was installed in May 2015, the
bills dropped to $18 a month during the summer and about $50 a month
during the winter.
Solar power first took off in Staten Island, Long Island
and Westchester County, largely because many residents own houses with
large pitched roofs that face south, optimal conditions for generating
the most kilowatts. It hasn’t been as easy for homeowners in more
built-up areas. Shade from neighboring buildings is the most limiting
factor, and many solar installers are not interested in setting up
systems on small flat roofs, according to Mr. Neidl.
“The
large national installers would see a small roof on Google Maps and
they would say: small system, big hassle, no thank you,” he said.
The
city’s fire codes also made it difficult for installers to place enough
panels to yield sufficient power, said Ronnie Mandler, the president of
Best Energy Power, a Long Island solar installer.
The
New York City Fire Department requires a clear path of six feet from
the perimeter of the roof, as well as from all doors, skylights and
hatches, so firefighters have enough room for themselves and their
equipment. That limits the amount of usable space on a typical townhouse
with a 20-by-45-foot roof.
“The
city’s stringent fire codes are the reason the solar market hasn’t
gotten bigger here,” Mr. Mandler said. That said, installers have come
up with some innovative solutions.
Gaelen McKee, the president of Brooklyn SolarWorks,
worked with a structural engineer and a design firm to create a solar
canopy that raises the entire PV system off the roof by about 10 feet
with aluminum frames.
Mr.
McKee said fire codes limit the typical rowhouse to about 16 roof
panels, but a canopy system can more than double the number of panels by
elevating the panels over the roof, thus using most of the building’s
footprint. He said he now installs about eight canopy systems a month
and expects to double his business over the next year.
Owners
of apartment buildings are also eyeing the sun. Jac Zadrima, a
principal of Genesis Realty Group in the Bronx, placed solar systems on
21 of the 40 rental buildings the company owns. He estimates that he
saves about $6,000 to $10,000 per building a year, and said that savings
helps maintain other building operations.
“When
you’re maintaining an older housing stock, a maintenance issue is never
minor,” he said, “so it’s nice to have that extra money to offset a
good portion of your common-area costs.”
Similarly,
after spending $1.7 million to install solar systems on nine rental
buildings in the Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens, Daniel Benedict, the
founder of Benedict Realty Group, estimated that the investment will
have paid for itself in about five years.
“Solar is great for long-term owners,” he said. “I’m saving 70 percent on my annual electricity bill.”
The
552 panels across the four buildings that make up the firm’s Alpine
Apartments in Jackson Heights, Queens, generate about 157,000
kilowatt-hours of electricity per year. Between January and August, the
Con Ed bill for the buildings’ common areas totaled $5,334,
significantly less than the $18,850 he paid during the same period last
year before he went solar.
Cecil D. Corbin-Mark, the deputy director of West Harlem Environmental Action, a community organization, said he worried that the less affluent would be left behind in the city’s solar revolution.
The
organization has urged several Housing Development Fund Corporation
co-ops in the neighborhood to go solar, but convincing people to spend
money for future savings is difficult. “Many of these buildings don’t
have much in reserves, so boards are hesitant to take out loans,” he
said.
Even
if co-ops and condominiums have sufficient reserves, getting the
residents on the solar bandwagon is often difficult, said McGowan
Southworth, 41, a founder of Zero Carbon Corporation, a green energy consultancy that has helped co-ops go solar.
Mr.
Southworth understands the struggle: When he was president of his co-op
board, it took him over a year to obtain shareholder approval, install a
solar system and switch meters at his own building in Sunset Park,
Brooklyn.
“It
was a lot of collaboration, which included many informal chats in the
hallways,” he said. “But now it’s an identity. We are known as that
Sunset Park solar co-op.”
Correction: October 3, 2016
An earlier version of this article misstated the program through which Ann Schaetzel and four other homeowners formed a solar purchasing group. It was Here Comes Solar, organized by Solar One, a nonprofit, not the city’s Solarize NYC, organized by Brooklyn Community Board 6 and Solar One. The article also misstated the electricity generated by the 552 solar panels at the Alpine Apartments in Jackson Heights, Queens. It is about 157,000 kilowatt-hours per year, not 157,000 kilowatts.
source -
An earlier version of this article misstated the program through which Ann Schaetzel and four other homeowners formed a solar purchasing group. It was Here Comes Solar, organized by Solar One, a nonprofit, not the city’s Solarize NYC, organized by Brooklyn Community Board 6 and Solar One. The article also misstated the electricity generated by the 552 solar panels at the Alpine Apartments in Jackson Heights, Queens. It is about 157,000 kilowatt-hours per year, not 157,000 kilowatts.
source -
EmoticonEmoticon