The Buffalo News: Project will extend the benefits of solar power
to Fruit Belt residents
Published:
Sunday, July 12, 2015 - 17:17
A plan by National Grid to install solar energy systems on the rooftops of 100 homes in Buffalo’s Fruit Belt should help share across a broader economic spectrum the benefits derived from the area’s deep foray into renewable energy.
The project’s goal is a noble one and fits into the recent White House announcement of new measures to extend solar to a broader group of Americans, including low-income communities and individuals who rent.
Locally, the effort is being launched to test whether such neighborhood solar projects in lower-income areas make economic sense that can be duplicated elsewhere.
As News business reporter David Robinson outlined, the $3.7 million proposal involves the utility installing solar panels on the roofs of 100 Fruit Belt homes, and then selling the power in the state’s electricity market. The proceeds would reduce the electric bills of the residents of those hundred homes, plus an additional 50 households that applied for the program but did not get in because their homes were deemed unsuitable for rooftop solar panels.
