November 21, 2024
Renewable properties has completed construction of a 3.5 MW solar project that will serve a small town in upstate New York. The community solar project on Clemons Road in Minoa, New York, consists of 6,427 solar panels and is the company’s seventh operational community solar project in the region.
In collaboration with the village and Ampionthe subscription manager of Renewable Properties, nearly 100 Minoa residents have subscribed to the program, accounting for 20% of the community solar project’s subscribers. In addition to their savings accounts, Minoa residents’ portion of the array will generate 878,702 kWh of solar energy per year.
“Renewable Properties’ mission is to advance energy for local communities,” said Aaron Halimi, president of Renewable Properties. “With 20% of solar panels generating solar energy for Minoa, our Clemons Road Solar project is an example of how we are achieving that goal by providing solar energy in Minoa to nearly 100 Minoa residents. We are also proud to contribute to other community benefits such as local operations and maintenance efforts and tax revenue for the Village of Minoa and Onondaga County.”
To celebrate the project’s completion, Renewable Properties hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony and educational project tour of the project site on November 19. William F. Brazil, mayor of the Village of Minoa, and other area dignitaries joined executives from Renewable Properties, Ampion and United Renewable Energy (URE), the project’s construction partner, for the ribbon cutting.
Community solar allows multiple participants, such as households or businesses, to share the benefits of a single solar project without installing panels on their own property. Participants subscribe to a portion of the solar park’s energy production and receive credits on their energy bills, reducing their overall energy costs.
Brazill encouraged the construction of the Minoa solar project and urged residents to subscribe, providing the community with information about the project and incentives to sign up. The mayor also made sure Minoa were residents offered the first option to subscribe to the project before it was opened to people outside the city.
“As mayor, my goals include saving money for our community and making Minoa more sustainable,” Brazill said. “This project achieves both goals by helping community members save on energy bills while increasing the supply of local renewable energy. The economic and environmental benefits of the project will strengthen our community. This solar project is located in Minoa and is for Minoa.”
Ampion, a New England-based company that manages subscriptions and revenue for community solar projects, helped acquire subscribers for the project and will manage them for renewable properties throughout the project’s life cycle.
“We are proud to build on our partnership with Renewable Properties by connecting utilities to clean energy and savings from the Clemons Road Solar project,” said Nate Owen, CEO and founder of Ampion. “We are pleased that our subscription campaign has attracted nearly 100 Minoa residents, allowing them to immediately benefit from a solar energy project in their community and save clean energy. We look forward to providing subscribers with energy cost savings and clean energy to the local environment.”
United Renewable Energy (URE) served as the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) company for the solar projects. Construction began on June 15, 2023 and was completed on July 17, 2024. William Silva, founder and CEO of URE, also attended the ribbon cutting and participated in an educational tour of the facility.
“I am extremely proud of this project,” said Silva. “Like any renewable property project, we built it with the support of local workers and businesses. As a resident of New York State, I am excited to see the benefits of highly cost-effective community solar deployed locally to benefit the residents of Central New York.”
NYSERDA incentives through the NY-Sun Commercial & Industrial Megawatt Block Program and Community Adder facilitated the project.
Tags: Community Solar, Renewable Properties
