Clearway Energy Group powers on Underhill Community Solar Farm

Clearway Energy Group launched the Underhill Community Solar Farm and celebrated its broader community solar fleet in New York that recently became active in 2019. An event commemorating the launch was co-hosted by Poughkeepsie-based Plan Bee Farms & Brewery, a featured provider of New York State craft beer under the Taste NY Program, and a subscriber to Clearway’s Underhill Community Solar Farm, underscoring the role of locally-produced solar power and locally-grown food and beverages in creating sustainable communities. Pollinators placed on the Underhill Community Solar Farm aid food production, including Plan Bee’s locally made honey.

“Local, clean, affordable — at Clearway, we are so proud of what this project represents: community members coming together to support clean energy with ease and convenience,” said Drew Warshaw, VP of Community Solar, Clearway Energy Group. “We are grateful for the visionary leadership of Governor Cuomo, NYSERDA and the New York Green Bank, as well as for the broader Hudson Valley community and, of course, our customers, in helping us break down the barriers to clean energy. Now we just need more of it.”

Community solar is a renewable energy initiative that allows residents and businesses to go solar without needing to install solar panels on their property. The Underhill Community Solar farm marks Clearway’s first operational community solar farm in the Central Hudson Gas & Electric (Central Hudson) utility service territory, and with 8,856 panels and the ability to power over 450 homes, it’s the largest in Central Hudson’s service territory to date. In addition, as one of the first participants in the New York State Energy Research & Development Authority’s (NYSERDA) innovative “Solar for All” program, Underhill will expand access to the benefits of clean energy to low- and moderate-income New Yorkers.

Administered by NYSERDA as part of Governor Cuomo’s $1 billion NY-Sun program, the Solar for All program is designed to provide no-cost community solar to 10,000 low-income homeowners and renters in support of the state’s ongoing efforts to make renewable energy more accessible to all New Yorkers. Solar For All offers eligible low-income households the opportunity to subscribe to a community solar project in their area without any upfront costs or participation fees. Through the Solar for All program, the Underhill project will
reserve up to 1 MW of the project capacity for eligible homeowners and renters to subscribe.

Clearway recently placed in service three other community solar farms in the Hudson Valley, including the Minisink Solar Farm (5.3 MWdc, in Minisink, NY — one of the largest community solar farms in New York and the largest in Orange & Rockland’s Gas & Electric service territory) which was supported by New York Green Bank; the Crans Mill Solar Farm (2.8 MW, in Pine Bush, New York) and the Bluestone Solar Farm (3 MW, in Kingston, New York).

Clearway has more than a dozen community solar farms in development throughout New York, making it one of the largest community solar providers in the state. The Underhill Solar Farm was developed jointly by Clearway and Cypress Creek Renewables and will be owned, operated and maintained by Clearway.

News item from Clearway Energy Group