Continental Building Products, a North American manufacturer of gypsum drywall and complementary finishing products, now has a 2.4-MW solar system on its Buchanan manufacturing facility along the Hudson River in Westchester County, New York. The community solar system, installed by EnterSolar, is the largest in the Con Edison utility system, and was made possible, in part, through funding from Governor Cuomo’s NY-Sun Initiative.
“Building a system of this scale was not something we entered into lightly. In addition to recognizing financial benefit from the system, it was important to us to give back to the community and our environment. By utilizing community solar, we developed a system that would not only reduce the demand on the grid, but would be shared by our neighbors as well,” said Jay Bachmann, president and CEO of Continental.
In an effort to share the benefits of the solar power system more broadly with the Westchester community, Continental structured the project as a “community solar” project. By hosting the Continental Buchanan Community Solar project on its rooftop, Continental will help participating Westchester households, including many of its own employees, access the energy produced by the solar panels and receive credits toward their monthly electric bills.
This project received over $1.4 million from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) through NY-Sun, Governor Cuomo’s $1 billion NY-Sun initiative to advance the scale-up of solar and move New York State closer to having a sustainable, self-sufficient solar industry. Since 2011, solar in New York State has increased more than 1,500% and leveraged nearly $3.5 billion in private investments, making it one of the fastest growing solar markets in the nation. NY-Sun projects help support Governor Cuomo’s nation-leading Green New Deal which calls for 70% of the state’s electricity to come from renewable resources by 2030.
“Congratulations to Continental Building Products and EnterSolar on the completion of their community solar project, which is becoming an increasingly popular option for New York residents and businesses that are unable to install solar on their property or rooftop,” said Alicia Barton, president and CEO, NYSERDA. “I commend Buchanan community for taking part in solar projects like this to support locally-produced renewable energy and help reduce emissions in support of Governor Cuomo’s nation-leading clean energy goals.”
New York-headquartered EnterSolar worked with Continental from end to end on the project, including financing structures, engineering, installation and project management.
“EnterSolar develops solar projects nationwide, and for commercial enterprises of all sizes. It is particularly gratifying when we can develop a community solar system of this magnitude in our own region. This project optimizes large-scale commercial solar while affording direct and tangible benefits to Continental’s neighbors and employees in their own homes as well. It’s a win-win,” said Paul Ahern, president, EnterSolar.
News item from EnterSolar
To the left and up a little bit on the photo is a smaller facility that produces approximately 1000 times more energy, also greenhouse gas free.