Solar Options

There are several options for New York businesses to go solar.

Find out which solar option is right for your business: property installation (rooftop or ground-mounted), community solar, or remote crediting.

Property Installation

Solar panels can be mounted on either the roof of your business or the ground, wherever conditions are best on your company’s property. You can purchase the system or enter into a lease or power purchase agreement (PPA) with the solar installer.

Rooftop solar offers you a way to harness the power of the sun through panels installed on the roof of your business or other buildings on your property.

Ground-mounted solar allows you to put panels wherever conditions on your property are best, particularly if you can’t or don’t want to put them on your roof. For an additional cost, ground-mounted panels can be installed with tracking capabilities to better harness the power of the sun.

Community Solar

Community solar projects are a collective array of solar panels installed in a sunny, offsite location. Community solar allows you to access the benefits of solar without installing panels on your roof or property. You’ll receive monthly credits on your electric utility bill for the solar energy generated by your selected project. Most projects also offer guaranteed savings, allowing your business to help green the grid and save money at the same time.

Many community solar projects are available across the State. Use our community solar map to find a community solar project already near you or coming soon. For more information about community solar, visit NY-Sun’s Community Solar for Business page.

Remote Crediting

Remote crediting projects offer another way to access the benefits of solar without installing panels on your roof or property. Remote crediting and community solar offer the same service, but the three major differences are:

• the number of subscribers allowed: remote crediting projects cannot have more than 10 subscribers, whereas community solar projects must have a minimum of 10 subscribers (excluding projects sited on master metered multifamily buildings with at least 10 residential units).
• the ability to have onsite solar: customers may have onsite solar and subscribe to a remote crediting project, however, customers cannot have onsite solar and subscribe to a community solar project.
• the ability to subscribe to multiple projects: remote crediting subscribers may participate in multiple remote crediting projects, but community solar subscribers can only participate in one community solar project at a time. Customers subscribed to a remote crediting project cannot also participate in a community solar project, and vice versa.

If you’re a large business, remote crediting may be more suitable for you than community solar. You can subscribe to a remote crediting project and receive credits on your electric utility bill. Work with a solar contractor to determine which is best for your business. Use this search tool to find a contractor in your area.