Joule Community Power relaunches program; plans solar and storage campaign in May
Joule Community Power has relaunched their Hudson Valley Community Power program with 12 new municipalities and plans to launch a community solar and storage program next month, said Joule Assets Chief Executive Officer, Jessica Stromback, in an interview with NPM.
Hudson Valley Community Power is a community choice aggregation program that brings municipalities together to strengthen their collective buying power to secure better terms on their electricity supply and renewable generation resources. Joule Community Power, a division of Joule Assets, Inc., is the program administrator.
Last year, the program was interrupted when Columbia Utilities prematurely ended an electricity supply contract with 10 communities in the program. Joule, along with several affected municipalities sued the utility for breach of contract. The Public Service Commission also intervened in support of the lawsuit and continues to support the ongoing legal case, according to the release.
The program is recommencing with Direct Energy Services as the new electricity supplier who will begin supplying participants in July.
The 12 municipalities contracted include the city of Poughkeepsie, the Towns of Gardiner, Marbletown, New Paltz, Philipstown, Red Hook, Rhinebeck, Saugerties, Nelsonville, and the Villages of Cold Spring. Joule has contracts with 56 municipalities overall.
The municipalities had three fixed rate renewable electricity supply options to choose from as their new default: 100% New York State renewable fixed rate electricity supply, 50 percent New York State renewable fixed rate electricity supply with the remaining 50 percent being matched by certificates sourced from U.S. renewable electricity resources, and standard fixed rate electricity supply which is a fossil fuel mix.
Five communities selected the 100 percent renewable option and seven the 50/50 blend. The terms offer a fixed rate over 24 months.
The program is made possible through a legal structure in New York called Municipal Home Rule Law, which authorizes counties to adopt local laws for their residents that otherwise might be decided by the state.
“That gives residential customers and small business customers a really unique level of bargaining power,” Stromback said.
“It’s a really powerful group of people particularly in New York state with this Home Rule regulation,” added Stromback. “You have empowered municipalities that are able to make a lot of energy decisions on behalf of their residents.”
As the program administrator, they go to market to conduct bids on a municipality’s behalf. Bids are brought back to the municipal leaders and if they like what they see, they sign up and their residents are moved on to the new electricity contract. Contracts are typically 18 months to two years and 50 to 100 percent renewable. Residents can opt out at any time.
Last year they expanded their number of municipalities in the program and load capacity by about 15 percent, “and we'll be aiming to do the same thing again this year,” Stromback said.
Stromback said they are also preparing to launch a widespread marketing campaign next month centered on community solar and storage that will include a portfolio of services they intend to offer and RFPs.
The RFPs will be for municipalities interested in developing land with solar or are interested in solar for themselves or their residents, Stromback said.
“It will be a good opportunity for business-to-business development,” Stromback said.
*This story was originally published exclusively for NPM subscribers last month.
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