By Lisa Cohn
If determination could be measured in kilowatt-hours (kWh), my brother, Paul Cohn, would be awash in energy.
When he first launched Paul’s Organic Farm back in 2015, he purchased a 50-kW wind turbine from Endurance Wind Power to provide power to his greenhouse and farm operations. The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) paid for a third of the turbine, and tax credits paid for another third.
Opposition from neighbors and the town
Immediately, neighbors complained about the noise the turbine emitted, and the town of Colden, N.Y., opposed the wind project, apparently fearful that the installation would create a precedent, and more wind turbines would follow, Paul says. After much back and forth, Colden issued a permit with the requirement that Paul give the town $13,500 to pay for removal when the turbine needed to be decommissioned.
After putting up the $13,500, Paul hired a lawyer and insisted the town was being capricious.
The town still has the money.
“The town stole from me $13,500,” he says. “It’s still in their account.”
Utility delivers a big surprise, “robbing” farmer of his wind turbine
Once the turbine began operating, Paul says he was surprised by his utility, New York State Gas & Electric (NYSEG). It never occurred to him that NYSEG would switch up his rates.
NYSEG added a new commercial meter that covered his wind turbine and farm operations and put his residential property on a separate meter. NYSEG then charged Paul demand charges every time his farm load–including the greenhouse and the electricity required to turn on the turbine–exceeded 5 kW.
“NYSEG robbed me of my turbine,” he says.
Is this true?
Let’s back up for a minute.
Demand charges are common for commercial customers, says Jeni Hall, program manager for Energy Trust of Oregon, which provides incentives for renewable energy. To avoid them, some solar and wind customers can deploy smart batteries that absorb renewable energy, and release the energy when rates are high. Right now, energy storage is eligible for tax incentives under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).
Jigar Shah, director of the U.S. Department of Energy loans program office, said at the Dervos conference Nov. 9 that utility rates in Upstate New York undermine efforts to deploy renewable energy. “The way the tariff works, they (utilities) pay 3 cents/kWh for power and charge demand charges,” he said. It would require a “very large tariff change” to make utilities in the region friendlier to renewable energy, he added. “But nobody is working to get it done,” he added.
It is true that utilities in general aren’t thrilled about dealing with customers who deploy distributed energy.
Energy prosumers like Paul bring two-way flow of energy to the grid
For many years, utilities have been working under the same model. Energy–generally generated by fossil fuels–flows in one direction, from the grid to customers. But now, many “prosumers” like Paul are bringing renewable energy to the grid. Utilities are required to take this power–but it turns their model upside down. Suddenly, the grid is not only delivering energy; it’s accepting it from everyday citizens.
As this opinion piece in the New York Times explains, “Most electric utilities view distributed energy — technologies owned by customers that generate electricity in smaller amounts — as a threat to their business. They have tried for years to stop their customers in many states from investing in rooftop solar by rigging rates to make it less economically attractive. They’ve also funded opposition to policies that would speed clean energy.”
I can’t say that NYSEG “rigged” my brother’s rates. But it is fair to say that the NYSEG rates undermined the economics of the wind turbine.
NYSEG—which didn’t respond to my request for an explanation of its rates— charges $10/kW for demand above 5 kW, my. brother says. In addition, NYSEG, under its net metering program, only paid Paul 2 cents/kWh for the wind power when he was moved to a commercial account, he says. If he had stayed on a residential account, the net metering payments would have been higher.
Meanwhile, the turbine isn’t operating right now because the bed plate cracked; this was a flaw from Endurance Wind Power that caused the company to go belly up.
New grants, tax credits, storage and bill credits may allow this farmer to start anew
In spite of it all, Paul is as determined as ever. He wants to repair the turbine with the help of a grant and tax credits and is looking into distributed energy incentives available in New York State.
He’s thinking of applying for a USDA Rural Energy for America grant and likely also qualifies for tax credits under the IRA.
In addition, NYSERDA offers the Value of Distributed Energy program, which provides bill credits for distributed energy resources. Paul must apply to utility NYSEG to see if he qualifies for the program, which compensates projects based on when and where they provide electricity to the grid.
To calculate bill credits, the program looks at a distributed energy resource’s energy value, capacity value, environmental value, demand reduction value and locational system relief value.
He should also consider a smart battery system, as the Oregon Energy Trust’s Hall suggested.
Educating farm visitors about renewable energy
On a bad day, Paul jokes he’s going to give up on renewable energy and start using a wood stove. On a good day, he’s as determined as ever to deploy wind energy–and educate his many farm visitors about its benefits.
Do you have any advice for Paul? Do you have clean energy stories of your own that might educate our readers? Email [email protected]