Livingston County (NY) – The Lakeville Village Community Solar farm recently completed construction, and will now provide a sustainable energy source to homeowners, renters and businesses at a guaranteed savings on their energy costs, while creating a reduced carbon footprint for the community. Lakeville Community Solar allows any National Grid customer to ‘go solar’ without the need to install solar panels on their roof or property, nor to pay for equipment, installation or maintenance.

This 4-megawatt ground-mounted solar project is constructed on 18 acres of land at the north end of Conesus Lake, east of the Village of Geneseo. It is designed to produce over 4.7 million kilowatt-hours of clean energy annually, enough solar energy to support between 350 and 400 homes and businesses. In addition, these hundreds of homes and businesses will see a savings of up to 10% in their electrical costs for the next 20 years. A few spots have been held for those local residents who have yet to sign up.

Although the program is available to any National Grid customer within New York State, project developers have worked to ensure that the benefits of the project are enjoyed within the local community. “Lakeville Village, Inc. has sought to build a community solar project on this site since 2017,” said Mike Roach, RER Project Developer. “We are very happy that community members will soon reap the benefits of their commitment to see this project become a reality.”

“As a community we were blessed to have the guidance and expertise of RER Energy Group and Larsen Engineering. We are certainly familiar with an operating structure as a Resident Owned Community,” said Ron Palmer, solar project chairman for LVI. “Without their assistance and transparency, we would not have been able to advance this project.”

The Lakeville Village solar project was developed by RER Energy Group and Larsen Engineering. The construction of the array has been provided by Bullrock Solar, and financing was arranged by Sunvestment and Bullrock Solar.

Another unique dimension of this project is its financing and planned long-term ownership, “Sunvestment has established joint ownership opportunities for this array with the local partners involved in the project and are still discussing ownership opportunities with additional community members” says Jim Kurtz, President of Sunvestment. “At Sunvestment we strive to make communities stronger through solar; and keeping more of the financial value of a solar array with regional partners and local participants allows us to do that.”

The project received nearly $700,000 in funding from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) through NY-Sun, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo’s signature initiative to advance the State towards a sustainable, self-sufficient solar industry and supporting New York’s goal for 70 percent of the state’s electricity to come from renewable sources by 2030 as adopted by the state’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act.

“The completion of this community solar project brings increased access to affordable clean energy to senior residents in the community and surrounding area, which supports New York State’s goal to bring six gigawatts of solar energy online by the end of 2025, as outlined in the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act,” said David Sandbank, Vice President of Distributed Energy Resources at the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) “NYSERDA’s NY-Sun Team commends RER Energy Group for completing another community solar project that will help lower energy costs and the carbon footprint for the Town of Geneseo community.

More information about the project and community solar is available on the project website at lakevillesolar.com. There, you’ll be able to obtain additional information and subscription updates.

This project will celebrate its completion with a ribbon cutting ceremony on Earth Day, April 22, 2021 at 11:00 AM. This will be a virtual event attended by local and State officials, and can be accessed at this Zoom Link .