Brightcore, Luminace see potential in community solar on commercial rooftops following new partnership

Brightcore Energy and Luminace executives say there’s plenty of runway for community solar expansion in New Jersey, particularly with projects sited on rooftops, according to recent interviews with NPM.

Last month, the two firms announced they’d be partnering to develop a 6.6 MWdc rooftop community solar portfolio in New Jersey on eight commercial rooftops in Fairfield and Montville Townships. Brightcore is serving as the developer of the projects, responsible for engineering, procurement, and construction, while Luminace will be the long-term owner and operator of the portfolio.

The projects, which each range between 600 KW and 1 MW each, are all under construction and expected to come online in mid-2025, Brightcore’s head of solar development Ben Reisman told NPM.

The same corporate client owns all eight rooftops, Reisman said, but declined to name the company or disclose what the projects are expected to cost.

“We are seeing a ton of opportunity in the community solar space in New Jersey. That’s really for a few reasons, but the primary one being community solar is opening up a lot of opportunity for these building owners in these facilities that maybe are a tenant occupied building, or they have a large rooftop space without any or much energy usage in the facility that can be all set behind-the-meter,” Reisman said. “Community solar, similarly to how it has in other states, has really opened up this market that has kind of left a lot of large buildings behind.”

The new rooftop projects are located in Public Service Electric and Gas Company’s (PSE&G) and Jersey Central Power & Light Company (JCP&L) territories and were all part of the first round of New Jersey’s Community Solar Energy Program (CSEP) capacity allocation, Reisman said, which was open in late 2023. He said they are also pursuing federal incentives for the projects, particularly the low-to-moderate income (LMI) locational adder.

Reisman said the company has been successful with community solar solicitations in New Jersey because they have a deep focus on the state’s local regulatory environment. Brightcore expects to continue to participate in New Jersey’s CSEP solicitations, Reisman said.

Luminace Vice President Rob Rabe shared a similar sentiment about New Jersey’s market.

“We have really deep relationships and experience in the market, and New Jersey is one of the few markets with a full community solar policy and enabled,” Rabe said. “That’s an attractive profile from a project investment perspective for us, so we target and prioritize markets where there’s community solar opportunities.”

Rabe said the projects are expected to provide energy bill credits to between 600 and 800 residential accounts, with more than 51% coming from LMI households. Five of the eight projects are already fully subscribed, he said, with the other three expected to be full within the next several weeks.

Even with the recent focus on community solar, Reisman said his company is not leaving the traditional behind-the-meter C&I solar sector behind. Brightcore still sees a lot of potential in the C&I market as retail electricity prices continue to climb, he said. On a similar note, Reisman said the battery storage space is becoming more attractive as costs continue to decrease after a post-COVID-19 bump and incentive programs are re-funded.

*This story was originally published exclusively for NPM subscribers.

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