First Opt-Out Community Solar & Energy Supply Program Officially Launches

The Villages of Brockport and Lima, New York, today activated their previously reported opt-out community solar program, part of their municipal aggregation.

Joule Community Power, which runs the Finger Lakes program, said that the program is the first opt-out community choice solar program in the United States.

Brockport and Lima have partnered with six local community solar farms, expected to generate a combined 28 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) annually. The solar farms are expected to begin operation in October 2021; all residents will be covered by Spring 2022.

Of the 3,800 eligible customers in the Finger Lakes opt-out solar program, more than 200 are low-income households and approximately 300 are moderate-income. Going forward, LMI residents will continue to be first in line to receive solar credits within a municipality.

Finger Lakes Community Choice also announced a two-year electricity supply opt-out aggregation for Brockport and Lima, powered by New York State run-of-river hydropower.

Joule said that, as it expands its offering throughout New York State, it is looking to add 250 MW of community distributed generation solar capacity in utility zones north of Westchester County. Of this, 80% is being contracted specifically to serve LMI residents within participating municipalities.