LIPA looking for ways to boost solar power as federal tax credit expires

LIPA is eyeing ways to "continue the momentum" of solar-power installations on Long Island in the face of an expiring federal tax credit that subsidizes solar for nearly 1 in 10 local residential customers, the utility’s chief executive said Thursday.

Most solar companies have stopped promising customers they will finish their installations before year's end to make them eligible for the 30% tax credit, after the Trump administration’s "Big Beautiful Bill" nixed the credit by Dec. 31.

"We want to help keep the momentum going," said Long Island Power Authority chief executive Carrie Meek Gallagher at a conference on green energy hosted by PSEG Long Island in Melville. She said the utility will be working with PSEG, solar industry companies and developers to find ways to "reduce the cost" for homeowners when the credit worth tens of thousands of dollars is gone starting in January.

LIPA and the state probably won’t bridge the "whole difference, but we can still make it affordable," Gallagher said, saying the aim is to help "bridge the difference."

As New York State resets once-aggressive 2019 climate goals that call for retiring fossil-fuel power plants over the next decade, LIPA and its home-solar penetration of nearly 100,000 homes have led the state. 

"We’re hitting it out of the park on solar," Gallagher said.

At the same time, LIPA is "a little behind where we’d like to be" for energy storage goals, she said, citing moratoriums on battery storage plants in most Long Island towns. She said LIPA and other state agencies in coming months will be "doing some education and outreach around energy storage facilities," notably as new fire-code safety standards take effect in January.

"We want to try to get that message across and hopefully that will convince some that these moratoriums do not need to stay in place," she said.

Homeowners, firefighters and public officials who oppose the facilities say they should not be located in residential neighborhoods or around schools, or near vital evacuation routes.

Joe Lopes, who is part of a group that opposes battery-energy storage plants in Glen Head, said location will be key for LIPA and the state to either garner support or face deep opposition. One proposed site was "four blocks from my house," he said at the conference. "I’m for storage, but you have to put it in the right places," away from homes and schools, he said.

Lopes said he also would favor safer technologies being eyed for batteries, including zinc-halide. "I’d sacrifice some efficiency to improve safety," he said.

Gallagher said newer battery technology, some being developed on Long Island, is being eyed. 

LIPA and PSEG are somewhat behind in their goals for all-electric heat pump installations to date, but new state rules require all-electric buildings. Mike Voltz, director of renewable energy and energy efficiency for PSEG, said the utility expects to end the year with some 5,000 whole-house heat-pump systems installed this year, and expects next year's installs to top 5,600 systems.

Heat pumps, which are all-electric heating and cooling systems, are also losing federal tax credits of up to $2,000 this year, but a strong showing of heat-pump manufacturers and installers at the PSEG conference suggested the business has no intention of fading.

At one conference session on geothermal systems, which use the Earth’s steady temperature to operate among the most efficient heat pumps available, installer GreenLogic Energy demonstrated the systems are still very viable without the tax credit, particularly with utility energy costs rising. 

"I feel optimistic if we can get the word out," said Jean-Pierre Clejan, senior energy consultant and tech executive at GreenLogic, which has joined with veteran Long Island geothermal installer PGI Corp., to offer geothermal system installations.

Gallagher said LIPA and PSEG are on target to finish rolling out time-of-use rates across the service territory by year's end. The utility will then study data from the rollout coupled with usage data from smart meters, she said, and the information may allow for some "creative" new rate designs in the future. She said the state is watching Long Island’s lead.

"The state is looking at us because if it’s successful here, it’s easier to try to sell it to the other utilities," Gallagher said. "We know that doing things on Long Island is always a little bit more challenging. We’re very special here. If you can make it here on Long Island, you can make it anywhere."

By Mark Harrington

mark.harrington@newsday.comMHarringtonNews

Mark Harrington, a Newsday reporter since 1999, covers energy, wineries, Indian affairs and fisheries.