LIPA gives away rest of solar rebate budget

In the renewable energy market's equivalent of a doorbuster sale, the Long Island Power Authority gave away to customers the $1.75 million left in its solar rebate budget in just 11 minutes.

The rebates for people who signed up for solar power systems were given away Friday in a first-come, first-served online application lottery. More than 1,100 LIPA customers have signed up for solar systems this year - more than in the first 10 years of the program total - and the authority had already expended its rebate budget twice this year. In the spring, high demand ate up its original budget of just more than $14 million. The state stepped in and contributed $6 million, which was gone by Sept. 9. LIPA then took another $1.75 million from its environmental program budget to cover the 107 rebates given out Friday.

The power authority initially considered making the money available in three installments on the first day of the last three months of the year. But solar industry installers worried even that would lead to high demand that would drain the funds.

Installers Friday were caught off guard by how quickly the money went and worried about how the program's suspension will affect the business. LIPA rebates are $1.75 a watt, about 30 percent of the cost of buying and installing solar panels. A 10-kilowatt system costs about $60,000.

"Most companies aren't going to be able to survive through these changes," said Jamie Minnick, owner of Eastern Energy Systems, a solar installer in Mattituck. "The whole industry depends on these rebates, and they're gone now."

Brian Tymann of SunStream USA in Southampton said his firm was able to secure rebates Friday. "We were lucky," he said. "With a lot of hard work, foresight and eager clients, we got a slew of rebate applications in, just in time to meet the deadline."

LIPA noted only the residential solar rebate program is suspended. A smaller program for businesses has some funding left, but will be suspended when the money runs out, LIPA spokeswoman Vanessa Baird-Streeter said.

Before the funding ran out, LIPA had cut the rebate amount in half - from $3.50 a watt in December. The reduction left customers to pay more, increasing the time it takes for systems to pay for themselves, roughly five to 10 years.

LIPA has said the program will return next year, but it expects the industry to eventually work without rebates. Federal and state tax incentives take out some of the bite, and solar panel costs also are coming down.