Awhile back, New York Light Energy — a New York solar installation company — approached Mooradians Furniture in upstate New York. The idea? Install solar photovoltaic (PV) systems atop two of the furniture company’s locations in upstate New York. Now, with the solar panels installed, Moordians is looking forward to saving $500,000 in utility bills over the next 20 years.
Bill Mooradian, the owner of Mooradians Furniture, is excited about both the cost savings and environmental impact of the installation:
“The work done by Alex Lieb and New York Light Energy was professional and efficient, as were the services provided by our partners. The savings to our company will be substantial over the years, but the effect on the environment is equally important.”
Together, the two systems have a generating capacity of 80.64-kilowatts (kW), making it the largest solar energy system for a non-utility company in all of New York. The panels will produce around 98,500 kilowatt hours (kWh) annually — enough to power the equivalent of just over five average American homes for a full year.
The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) contributed $150,00 to the project to help offset the upfront cost. The 768 solar panels for the two installations combined were manufactured by Kycocera Solar Inc.
While I applaud Mooradians Furniture store decision to install solar panels on their NY stores this story speaks volumes on the state of NY Solar. An 80kw facility would not even make a headline if this store was located in NJ, PA, or MA.
NYS has handcuffed the adoption of solar power by having a system in place that limits system sizes to 50kw per site. For many large NY based companies this is less that 5% of the annual bill. So, in the end, many companies elect to spend those funds elsewhere.
WAKE UP NYS – PV is flourishing in other states and in typical NY State fashion the legislature sits idle as business moves to different states.
Kudos to Mooradians – Boo to our leaders in Albany.