A novel collaboration between solar installer Sunrun and utility Orange & Rockland shows how New York could tap household solar generation to advance climate goals
By Julian Spector, Canary Media
A network of more than 300 solar-powered homes started supplementing the New York grid this summer — the result of an unusual partnership that could unlock more localized clean energy for the state.
Sunrun, the nation’s largest rooftop solar installer, teamed up with utility Orange & Rockland, which serves some 300,000 customers in the suburbs and rural areas northwest of New York City, to make a compelling offer: Households signing up for solar from Sunrun could also get a free LG Chem battery pack, or a heavily discounted Tesla Powerwall.
“It’s kind of hard to turn that down,” said Christian Woods, the energy-storage project manager overseeing the program for Orange & Rockland. If anything, he said, customers were asking if this was “too good to be true.”
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