Viable solar sites assessed for the Long Island Community Microgrid Project

The Clean Coalition’s Long Island Community Microgrid Project, one of the first projects awarded funding by New York’s Governor Andrew Cuomo through theNY Prize Community Microgrid Competition, continues to progress on schedule.

Aspreviously reported, the Long Island Community Microgrid Project, located in the Town of East Hampton, will achieve nearly 50% of its grid-area electric power requirements from local solar–avoiding hundreds of millions of dollars in transmission infrastructure investments that otherwise would be required to deliver power to the region. The result will be an optimized local energy system able to provide long-term, renewables-based, backup power for prioritized loads.

Clean Coalition staff recently completed a Solar Siting Survey to identify viable locations for PV on commercial and industrial properties within the Long Island Community Microgrid Project target grid area, namely the East Hampton GT substation that serves thousands of customers. Through this effort, we uncovered over 30 potential sites for solar PV installations, with a collective capacity of more than 32 megawatts (MW). This is more than enough solar PV potential to meet the 15 MW of capacity necessary for the Long Island Community Microgrid Project to meet its local renewable generation goals.

Likely structures for solar PV installations include open land and parking lots at the East Hampton Airport, rooftops at several middle and high schools, as well as multiple beach parking areas.

The Long Island Community Microgrid Project is consistent with the New York State Energy Plan and the Reforming the Energy Vision initiative, which lay out a comprehensive strategy to build a clean, resilient, and reliable energy system for the state. This leading project will establish a model for New York, and beyond, to utilize local renewables paired with other distributed energy resources to create cleaner, more reliable, and more affordable power.