VDER is hurting the solar market on LI

Check out this article from Newsday on how the implementation of the new VDER tariff on Long Island is impacting the market. Key indicators of solar deployment are down, with new interconnection applications down to single digits. For reference, Long Island has historically been a hotbed of solar activity in NYS.

The article cites some states-wide data indicating commercial solar applications are down 45% this year, relative to the same time period last year.

 This is bad news for the NYS solar market, and is frustrating for us at Calculate Green. Just as the solar market is taking off, this new policy is slowing solar deployment, a critical part of addressing Climate Change in our state.

From the Article:

“ … the sharp decline since May led solar installers to implore LIPA trustees to vote to overturn their decision to implement the state program.

“This crisis started here in this room,” Charles DeStefano, commercial sales manager for Long Island Power Solutions of Islandia, told trustees recently. He pleaded with them to repeal the new plan to restart the market. “We don’t need to have this crisis,” he said. “This can be taken care of today. You have the power to make this go away.”  “