NY-Sun adds new tier to Inclusive Community Solar Adder incentive

NYSERDA has announced a new tier of the NY-Sun Inclusive Community Solar Adder (ICSA) incentive for projects that did not previously receive the Upstate Community Adder depleted in October 2023.

Beginning next month, eligible projects will be able to receive a “fixed” USD 0.07 per Watt ICSA for a project’s full capacity and a USD 0.10 per Watt “performance” ICSA on the capacity solely dedicated to ICSA-eligible subscribers.

Eligible subscribers are low-to-moderate income (LMI) households, affordable housing, and other facilities serving disadvantaged communities in Upstate or Con Edison regions of New York.

Jason Kaplan, PowerMarket Chief Operating Officer, is pleased with the changes that will likely help fuel project development in the state. The community solar solutions provider has been active in the New York community solar market from the earliest days—subscribing some of the first projects placed in service in the state.

Currently, they manage 29 ICSA projects across the state with a combined capacity of 57 MW with 34 MW of that capacity dedicated to ICSA-eligible LMI subscribers.

Their developer partners in the state include Lodestar Energy, Green Street Power Partners, Accord Power, and EDPR NA.

In addition to residential customers, PowerMarket works with many municipalities, Kaplan said. Municipal properties can be a ball field or a building located in a disadvantaged community which qualifies for non-residential ICSA eligibility. NYSERDA will allow that account to be ICSA eligible, as long as 50 percent of the capacity is ICSA eligible is residential, which includes homeowners, renters, students.

To date, only 5 percent of the 860,000 kW total block size for Upstate Community Solar Projects has been submitted--leaving about 820,000 kW of capacity available.

The Con Edison Community Solar block is also around 5 percent full. More than 95,000 kW of capacity is still available of the 100,000 kW block.

ICSA first launched in July 2022 and closed in June 2022. A second round opened in October 2023 and is currently still accepting applications.

ICSA eligible Community solar projects must meet the requirements of the NY-Sun Commercial and Industrial or NY-Sun Nonresidential Program. They also must be in approved status with their respective utility. Projects that received approval after the first-round closure on June 7, 2002, and before round two opening on October 12, 2023, are also eligible to apply.

Projects are also required to reserve a minimum of 40 percent of capacity to eligible subscribers and a minimum of 50 percent of the ICSA portion of the projection to eligible residential subscribers. Projects in PSEG-Long Island territory are not eligible for ICSA. If a project is selected for the Expanded Solar for All Program, they will be required to cancel their ICSA award.

ICSA also offers “High Performance” funding for projects that allocate more than 60 percent of their project’s capacity to eligible subscribers. To date, the Upstate and Con Edison High Performance blocks have had no projects submitted.

*This story was originally published exclusively for NPM subscribers last month.

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