LIPA HOSTS UNIFIED SOLAR CODE SUMMIT

LIPA, Long Island Regional Planning Council, Nassau County and Suffolk County Planning Commissions to work together in an effort to streamline the solar installation process

Uniondale, NY – The Long Island Power Authority (LIPA), Long Island Regional Planning Council, Suffolk County Planning Commission and Nassau County Planning Commission today launched a collaborative effort to advance a Long Island Unified Solar Code Initiative. The purpose of the collaborative is to create a uniform set of codes and standards for the deployment of solar energy systems that can be adopted by all the region’s municipalities.

A panel discussion held today at the headquarters of the Long Island Power Authority, as part of the working group’s uniform solar code initiative, featured more than 50 participants, including elected officials, solar industry experts and environmentalists partaking in the discussion.

“The goal of the collaborative is to develop a unified model code to promote the use of clean renewable energy,” said LIPA President and CEO Kevin S. Law. “This will help bring uniformity to Long Island’s varying regulations and will help reduce the region’s dependence on fossil fuels, stimulate the economy, and create clean-energy jobs.”

Currently, the solar installation approval process has a different set of regulations for each town and village, which creates confusion, delays and extra costs for many Long Islanders wishing to install photovoltaic systems on their homes or businesses with the hopes of improving the environment and lowering their energy bills.

“I am encouraged by today’s meeting, and I look forward to working with this group to begin drafting a uniform set of solar installation approval codes in helping to create a greener and cleaner Long Island. Streamlining the installation process throughout both counties will benefit our customers, our environment, and will continue to stimulate our local economy,” added Law.

"This collaborative effort is a keen example of Long Island's new regionalism. We applaud LIPA for its leadership on fostering clean renewable energy use, technology and jobs. The sooner we have a unified model code for solar systems means the sooner we will see more of these systems installed,” said Michael White, Executive Director of the Long Island Regional Planning Council.

"One of the responsibilities of the Suffolk County Planning Commission is to share information, ideas and best practices among Suffolk's 42 municipalities. Earlier this year, the Commission created four task forces comprised of municipal elected officials from across Suffolk in order to seek common solutions to shared municipal land use challenges critical to Suffolk's future. One of the goals of the Commission's Energy & Environment Task Force has been to work on creating a streamlined solar panel permit application process. I want to applaud Kevin Law for his leadership in recognizing that this effort should not be confined to one county, but rather deserves to be part of a larger regional conversation. I am excited about the initiation of that conversation today," said David L. Calone, Chairman, Suffolk County Planning Commission and LIPA Trustee.

"The solar industry on Long Island is showing strong growth with LIPA's aggressive incentives program for homeowners and with families motivated to protect the environment and to save money on energy bills, but many people interested in installing solar PV often run into unnecessary delays that waste money as they seek simple zoning and building code approvals from Long Island's multiple levels of governments, each with their own rules and regulations," said Neal Lewis Vice-Chairman of Nassau County Planning Commission and Executive Director of the Sustainability Institute at Molloy College. “LIPA is providing leadership by organizing this conference for local governments to work together to develop a unified set of rules for solar installations that will apply to communities all across Long Island. Between 2006 and 2009 ten of Long Island's largest towns amended their building codes to set a stricter standard for energy efficiency and the success of that effort is an indication that we have good reason to hope that this effort to establish a unified solar code, will also be successful."

The new collaborative envisions drafting a code similar to the recent Energy Star building codes which have been successfully adopted by 10 of Long Island’s 13 towns resulting in the construction of 1,052 new homes. These homes have proven to be at least 30% more energy efficient than those homes constructed using the old codes. Installing solar panels on new or existing homes can provide similar results in energy savings for homeowners and business owners.

”Sunshine doesn’t stop at the town line and neither do the solar contractors who serve Long Island’s rapidly expanding market for solar roofs,” said Gordian Raacke, Executive Director of the not-for-profit organization Renewable Energy Long Island (RELI) which helps consumers make informed energy technology choices and maintains a list of pre-screened solar installers. “Adopting more unified solar codes and inspection practices across our region will help ensure safe and reliable solar energy systems, lower the cost of installations and protect consumers.”

"Building permits are an absolute must in the ever-changing landscape of Long Island's housing stock," said LISEIA Vice Chairman R. Sail Van Nostrand. "The Long Island Solar Energy Industries Association (LISEIA) , fully supports the municipal desire for building permits, as it assures that solar installations will have fully licensed and insured contractors doing the work and that the installations have been designed to meet the unique structural criteria of a coastal community like Long Island. Unfortunately to date, permit requirements have varied from municipality to municipality and were developed before the arrival of a solar economy, resulting in a bureaucratic hangover that slows down the rapid and necessary deployment of solar. By undertaking to strip the process of antiquated requirements having little to do with the deployment of solar and focusing on ensuring the quality of the installation materials as well as the contractor, this forum serves the public well in speeding the project along, reducing the costs of paperwork and jump starting the new solar economy here on Long Island. LISEIA is pleased to be working on such a worthwhile effort."

For the second straight year, the Long Island Power Authority (LIPA) has been named among the top ten utilities in the United States with the most solar electricity integrated into their energy mix by the Washington, D.C.-based Solar Electric Power Association (SEPA). Through Sept 1, 2009, under its Solar Pioneer and Entrepreneur Programs, LIPA has rebated over $52 million for the installation of approximately 14 megawatts in almost 2,100 solar residential and commercial power systems Island-wide.

Law hopes that the participants can build upon the successful solar summit and bring regulatory uniformity for wind turbine installations next year.

LIPA, a non-profit municipal electric provider, owns the retail electric Transmission and Distribution System on Long Island and provides electric service to more than 1.1 million customers in Nassau and Suffolk counties and the Rockaway Peninsula in Queens. LIPA is the 2nd largest municipal electric utility in the nation in terms of electric revenues, 3rd largest in terms of customers served and the 7th largest in terms of electricity delivered. In 2010, LIPA outperformed all other overhead electric utilities in New York State for frequency of service interruptions, and ranked second for duration of service interruptions. LIPA does not provide natural gas service or own any on-island generating assets. More information about LIPA can be found online at: http://www.lipower.org.

Media Contact Information
Mark Gross
Phone - (516) 719-9892
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