Solar Developer To Launch Municipal Aggregation In New York, Seeks Authorization For Opt-out Community Solar, As Well As Commodity Supply

Upstate Power, LLC, an affiliate of Delaware River Solar, LLC, filed with the New York PSC a proposed Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) Implementation and Data Protection Plans and petitioned the PSC for authorization to serve as a CCA Program Administrator

"Upstate Power proposes a CCA Program which primarily features opt-out Community Distributed Generation ('CDG') and which maintains a particular focus on increasing participation by low- and moderate income ('LMI') customers in CDG," Upstate Power said

While not the focus of its program, Upstate Power proposes to offer a more traditional opt-out ESCO commodity supply product, and other value-added products, if desired by participating municipalities.

Such value-added products could include large-scale renewable energy supply, battery storage, demand management and electric vehicle charging networks, depending on participating municipalities’ interests and goals.

Upstate Power said, "CDG [Community Distributed Generation] projects offer customers a guaranteed savings on their energy bills—a benefit which some customers see as 'too good to be true' and about which many customers are understandably suspicious, given the negative experience with and widespread news coverage regarding past predatory ESCO practices."

Upstate Power said that several communities have already expressed interest in Upstate Power’s proposed opt-out CDG-focused CCA program, and Upstate Power included with its petition a letter of support from the Sullivan County Legislature

Since 2015, Delaware River Solar has developed, constructed, and interconnected over 100 MW of CDG solar projects in New York State. DRS manages approximately 7,000 CDG customers across 23 CDG Projects