Solar Array Planned to Offset 100% of the Trailer Park’s Electricity Demand

PSC Encourages Developers, Owners of Multi-Family Residential Properties to Follow Suit

ALBANY — The New York State Public Service Commission (Commission) today approved a unique petition submitted by a trailer park owner in City of Troy, Rensselaer County. As part of its proposal, the owner of the trailer park plans to install a photovoltaic array that is expected to offset the combined trailer park’s electricity load. The park’s owner will share the financial benefits of the solar installation with residents through lower electric bills.

“Kindle’s plans represent an intelligent, accessible and money-saving approach to deploying solar,” said Commission Chair John B. Rhodes. “New York State has ambitious clean energy goals that require the smart, aggressive development of renewable energy. This project supports achievement of these goals as well as promotes the Commission’s interest in increasing access to clean energy.”

Empowering customers by providing them more choice in how they manage and consume electric energy is a central element of the state’s Reforming the Energy Vision (REV) strategy to build a clean, resilient and affordable energy system. Equally as important are the objectives of creating robust and competitive markets for distributed energy resources (DER) that are sustainable over the long-term, and can maximize value and opportunity for society, the electric grid, and consumers.

The Troy trailer park owned by Kindle Associates, LP located on Brunswick Road consists of 61 trailer unit rental sites. Currently, National Grid provides all of the electricity to the trailer park. Significantly, Kindle has committed to reduce the resident’s energy costs by eight percent across the board. The Commission looked favorably on Kindle’s proposal to share the monetary benefits of the solar installation with residents and encourages other submetering applicants to consider similar benefit sharing arrangements.

Distributed energy resources are technologies that generate or manage the demand of electricity at different points of the grid, such as at homes and businesses, instead of centralized exclusively at power plants. Distributed energy resources can include solar, wind, combined heat and power, electricity storage, electric vehicles and anaerobic digesters. These resources are typically smaller in scale than the traditional generation facilities. These systems can serve a facility, campus, or micro-grid of unrelated buildings through a single technology or hybrid system. Strong candidates can include commercial and manufacturing facilities, university campuses, multi-family residential buildings, and municipalities.

Reforming the Energy Vision

The CLCPA builds on Governor Andrew M. Cuomo's landmark Reforming the Energy Vision strategy to lead on climate change and grow New York's economy. REV is building a cleaner, more resilient and affordable energy system for all New Yorkers by stimulating investment in clean technologies like solar, wind, and energy efficiency. Already, REV has driven growth of nearly 1,700 percent in the statewide solar market leveraging nearly $3.4 billion in private investments, improved energy affordability for 1.65 million low-income customers, and has led to more than 150,000 jobs in manufacturing, engineering, and other clean tech sectors across New York State.

To learn more about REV,  visit rev.ny.gov, follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.