Rochester Area Interfaith Climate Action
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Community Solar
Community solar enables individuals, small businesses, and/or non-profit organizations to receive direct benefits, similar to on-site solar installations. Subscribers to a community solar project receive credits on their bill for their portion of the energy produced by the community solar system. Benefits of Community Solar:
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Support Clean Energy-play an active role in displacing the need for fossil fuels that are a major source of greenhouse gas emissions and other toxic pollutants
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Cut Energy Costs- Lower your monthly electric payments with community solar credits applied directly to your utility bill.
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No installation Required- Zero upfront costs, no siting requirements, non-profits, renters, homeowners or small businesses with an electric bill in your name can participate
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Energize Your Local Economy-Support your neighbors by helping to create jobs in construction, engineering, maintenance, and development
Getting started is easy!
RAICA has partnered with Ampion power who has worked with:
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Over 40 Houses of Worship/Religious Institutions generate over 4GWh of renewable electricity annually
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Over 107 individual congregant household to add another 5GWh annually
That's like taking more than 450 cars off the road each year so far -- you can join to be part of the solution!
Click here to request an info session at your House of Worship
For Houses of Worship (HoW) or Institutions
Sign up your house of worship to save on utility bills and earn donations.
To sign up your facility go to https://ampion.net/RAICA/
Then to get a campaign started for congregants to sign up just contact Jim Tappon or call
(866) 244-7294
Downloadable resources for engaging your HoW
also see and share experiences on our member best practices forum
For households or small businesses
Signing up your household is easy just use this link to bring up a list of participating houses of worship*, then select your house of worship and follow the link to the appropriate sign up screen for that House of Worship
Each member that signs up will generate a donation for their house of worship or religious institution (in addition to saving on your utility bills, supporting local solar energy and supporting RAICA)
*If you don't see your house of worship simply select the general link under Unaffiliated
How Community Solar Works
1. Ampion assigns you a share of the local community solar farm based on your energy usage.
2. Each month, solar credits are generated on your behalf and applied directly to your RG&E bill
3. You purchase the solar credits at a discount, saving you up to 10% on your total electricity costs
4. Once connected, you can view your solar production, cost savings, and environmental impact with Ampion Energy’s online platform
Your discount is locked in for as long as you participate. You can cancel anytime with no cancellation fee
This short video from NYSERDA is a great tutorial on Community Solar
“As pastor of a church that takes stewardship and creation care seriously, I’m happy to have us be part of a program that encourages production of more clean, renewable energy – and lets our members save a bit on their bills at the same time. This is a real win-win solution for us,” says Pastor Steve Gretz of Greece Baptist Church.
**Options for community solar outside the REG&E service area (view service area map) can be provided by BlueRock Solar, Inc. through their Western New York solar farm and Ithaca-area solar farm. For information and to register go to:
https://bluerockenergy.com/grandislandsolar/ in the National Grid service area or https://bluerockenergy.com/solarfarm/ for NYSEG customers