The Lakeville Village Community Solar farm will 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 who signs up to ‘go solar’ without the need to find a place on their roof or property for an array, nor to pay for equipment, installation or maintenance.

This 4-megawatt ground-mounted solar project is currently under construction 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 to provide solar energy credits to between 350 and 400 homes and businesses. The project is slated to begin operation by the end of 2020.

Subscribers can enroll in the project and manage their subscriptions via a simple and straightforward online platform, available at LakevilleSolar.com. Solar energy generated by the array will appear as monetary credits on subscribers’ electricity bills, lowering the costs they pay to National Grid for electricity. Depending on the size of a subscription, participants in the program can save up to 10 percent annually on electricity.

Although the program is available to any New York state resident within National Grid’s territory, project developers are working 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.”

Engineering. The construction of the array has been provided by EPC provider, 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 the partner 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 supports 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.

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 begin the subscription process.

For questions about subscribing to Lakeville Community Solar contact: Conrad Karsten, RER Community Solar Project Manager at ckarsten@rerenergygroup.com, 585-443-8130.

About RER Energy Group

For over a decade, RER Energy Group has been a regional leader in solar energy. Since 2009, we have developed more than 55 Megawatts of solar arrays at over 110 business, nonprofit and municipal facilities. To help fund these solar systems, we have secured more than $30 million in State and Federal grants on behalf of project owners. RER makes it a priority to educate our clients on the optimal ways to save on energy costs and help them implement cost efficient renewable energy systems.

About Bullrock Solar

Bullrock Solar, a subsidiary of the Bullrock Corporation, is based in Shelburne, VT and is one of the leading solar companies in the region. The company offers a unique list of vertically integrated solar services, as well as award winning construction expertise. Bullrock Solar has created and developed a vast portfolio of solar projects, which include rooftop arrays, car ports and ground mount solar fields, while specializing in everything from planning, installation, finance, maintenance, and monitoring to facility management. For more information, visit www.bullrockcorp.com/solar.

About Larsen Engineering

Headquartered in Rochester, New York, Larsen Engineers is a multi-disciplinary firm that has been serving the needs of municipalities, federal and state government agencies, and private companies since its inception in 1955. Larsen offers a broad and diverse range of services including Civil & Environmental Engineering, Planning and Energy Conservation and has provided services throughout the northeastern part of the United States and Asia. For more information, visit www.larsenengineers.com.

About Sunvestment

Sunvestment employs cutting-edge financial solutions to fund and develop solar energy projects. We leverage sophisticated financial structures to create investor partnerships that bring together multiple community stakeholders to fund projects. By simplifying the process and allowing traditional and community investor participation, we’re lowering the cost of solar so that more people can benefit from the free fuel provided by the sun. For more information, visit: www.sunvestment.com.