The Results Are In on Long Island’s 100 MW Feed-in-Tariff

Last week PSEG Long Island announced the results of the second round of its solar PV feed-in-tariff (FiT) – and the program’s new competitive bidding mechanism is delivering sunny solar results.

For this round, PSEG used a clearing price auction (details and FAQ here) to arrive at a final bid price of $0.1688/kWh. That is nearly 25% less than the first solicitation, which had an administratively set price of $0.22/kWh. PSEG will now offer this fixed, 20-year rate to 100 megawatts-worth of qualifying solar projects across Long Island. The utility expects this solicitation to support the development of 76 new individual projects and generate enough power for 13,000 homes.

Considering the transition of utility operations from the Long Island Power Authority (LIPA) to PSEG Long Island over the past several months, we commend both entities for pushing this FiT solicitation forward and capitalizing on the momentum of this vibrant solar market.  Moving forward, it will be vital to ensure that there is long-term market certainty for wholesale development of solar on Long Island.  Long Island now has an opportunity to build on this recent success by planning a future FiT or other competitive solicitations to continue building a robust and self-sustaining local solar market.

New York State is certainly eyeing the kind of smart, long-term policy  needed to truly transform the region’s solar market. NYSERDA’s proposal to extend the NY-Sun residential and commercial programs through 2023 is a strong example of just that.  We look forward to continuing to work with stakeholders in Long Island and across the state to ensure that whatever comes next on the program and policy front will continue to build a stronger, reliable and solar-powered New York.

In the meantime, shout out to our friends on Strong Island for their solar leadership.