1. Save Energy, Save Money - PSEG Long Island
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Community Solar

Making Solar Energy More Accessible

Sharing the wealth of lower electricity bills by making solar energy accessible to everyone. Community Solar provides many benefits of solar without any of the hassle.

Find a Community Solar Project

Contact a community solar developer to inquire about participation in a project near you.
Find a Developer

What is Community Solar?
Community solar, often referred to as Community Distributed Generation (CDG), makes solar energy, as well as other forms of clean energy including fuel cells, more accessible to more people. Renters, co-op/condo owners, business and homeowners all have an equal  opportunity to save money without actually having the solar panels located on your roof. The energy produced by a large solar project is divided among multiple participating customers, saving everyone money. Private solar companies develop and construct community solar projects on Long Island, and then residents can subscribe into a project to receive energy credits, which reduce the cost of their own PSEG Long Island electric bill. It is great for those who want to save money each month but do not want to or cannot install solar panels on their own property.

 How Community Solar Works

Benefits of Community Solar

  • Save money on monthly electric bills 
  • Use clean, local renewable energy
  • Participate in solar regardless of property ownership, roof structure or other physical issues 
  • Choose which project is right for you, plus flexible contracts and no maintenance
  • Even if you move, as long as you remain part of the PSEG Long Island family, we can transfer your community solar subscription to your new residence  

 
Who Can Participate?
Any utility customer in the PSEG Long Island service territory can participate. Both residential and commercial customers are eligible. 

How it Works
With community solar, multiple customers can save money on their electric bills thanks to energy credits generated by one, large solar project located elsewhere and managed by a Host. Hosts are responsible for overseeing development of the project, fully enrolling customers in the project and allocating energy credits to customers. The host then acts as a liaison with PSEG Long Island to distribute these credits. Customers can participate by contacting one of the many approved community solar companies and inquiring about their unique community solar projects.

See the Savings
Customers see a guaranteed minimum savings of 5% by participating in a community solar program, with many projects offering greater bill savings. Community solar gives you the opportunity to experience the savings of solar without the equipment or long term financial commitment. 

Billing and Energy Credits
Each month, you will see credits on your PSEG Long Island electric bill. Based on your enrollment percentage and how much electricity your host project has generated that month; PSEG Long Island will credit your bill with energy credits. Just like having solar panels installed on your home, your portion of the energy generated from the community solar facility will appear on your PSEG electricity bill as net energy credits, and any excess generation will be banked on your PSEG account and used for future billing. In many cases you will receive an additional bill from your community solar company. The net credits applied to your PSEG bill will more than cover the bill from your community solar company, thus saving you money. Net Crediting or Consolidated Billing as it is commonly referred to is now being offered as a voluntary program to many CDG projects in Long Island. Net Crediting allows for subscribers to receive a single bill covering all charges from both the community solar company as well as PSEG. Please inquire with your specific CDG Host to see if you are eligible for Net Crediting.

Things to Know

  • Net Metering allows customers to bank excess electricity they receive from the community solar project to use toward future bills.
  • A Host is an owner of a solar project who manages, operates and maintains a project for its subscribers.
  • Bill Credits, which may be earned by a host project and applied to your bill by PSEG Long Island. The amount of bill credits allocated back to satellite accounts are based on their ownership percentage. Each bill credit is worth one kWh of electricity.
  • A satellite is a customer who is subscribed to a host community solar project.
  • A load zone is an area of a state, broken down by region. Long Island is considered a load zone, so any customer of PSEG Long Island is a part of the same “Zone K”.

 
Frequently Asked Questions
For more information, see our most frequently asked questions here. 

Next Steps

Contact a community solar developer to inquire about participation in a project near you. Below is a list of approved developers. Please be sure to look into and compare different developers, as some may have different terms, conditions and pricing. 

Approved Community Solar Developers
Find out how you can become an approved Community Solar Developer here. 

 
Non-solar Community Distributed Generation Developers

Please note: As part of the Community Distributed Generation (CDG) program, PSEG Long Island acts as a liaison with CDG Hosts, where the CDG Host manages and subscribes satellite accounts to their CDG project. PSEG Long Island is not responsible for the operation and management of a CDG Host project and is not a party to the agreement between the CDG Host and the customer. PSEG Long Island is not liable for any issues or disputes arising between the CDG Host and the customer.