Finding the funds for community ownership

For UPROSE, a Sunset Park-based envi­ron­mental justice group, winning commu­nity support and nego­ti­ating a lease for a solar panel instal­la­tion on the Brooklyn Army Terminal’s roof was only half the work. The other half was figuring out how a neigh­bor­hood orga­ni­za­tion could own a solar project.

UPROSE and Working Power, a devel­oper that part­ners with commu­nity groups to build and co-own clean energy projects in under­in­vested neigh­bor­hoods, each turned to their own networks to finance the project. Supporters included The Solutions Project, Climate Justice Alliance, Nathan Cummings Foundation and several other foun­da­tions, said Elizabeth Yeampierre, exec­u­tive director of UPROSE.

“These are foun­da­tions that are committed to a just tran­si­tion, and they have special funds for infra­struc­ture,” Yeampierre said. ​“They were very excited about this project.”

Ian Fischer, co-founder and co-exec­u­tive director of Working Power, explained that most solar devel­opers and investors don’t directly address bringing in commu­nity orga­ni­za­tions. As a result, many compa­nies and investors keep their commit­ment to the commu­nity at surface level. ​“They will buy a project, they will fund a project 100 percent, and then they’ll give you some energy savings. You can get 10 percent off your bill. There may be some commu­nity engage­ment, some training for job training, but there isn’t that owner­ship element,” he said. 

With that in mind, Fischer and his busi­ness partner Bracken Hendricks launched their orga­ni­za­tion in 2022 in Washington. Their goal was to respond to commu­nity-based orga­ni­za­tions nation­wide that need greater tech­nical exper­tise, legal support, and finan­cial resources to develop solar projects, without giving up control to outside investors. 

They quickly expanded into other energy markets in the Northeast, including New York, where they part­nered with UPROSE to help the group an owner­ship stake in the Brooklyn Army Terminal project. This way, resi­dents not only benefit from shared renew­able energy, but also have a stake in the infra­struc­ture that produces it. Co-owner­ship means they get to help deter­mine how the proceeds from that invest­ment are reinvested.

According to Fischer, a key compo­nent of their projects is the federal Investment Tax Credit (ITC), which lets the owner of a qual­i­fying renew­able energy project deduct a share of its construc­tion costs from its taxes. The owner can also sell the credit to compa­nies looking to lower their own tax bills, raising money that would other­wise have to come from private investors or loans. That’s what made shared owner­ship possible in Sunset Park.

The New York City Economic Development Corporation and Working Power esti­mate the project will save roughly 150 house­holds about $1.24 million on their energy bills over its life­time. Counting UPROSE’s returns as an owner, the project should generate about $2.2 million in total commu­nity bene­fits over its first 25 years, Fischer said.

Subscribers will also have a say in how the project’s bene­fits are used. According to Yeampierre, they will decide how UPROSE’s share of the proceeds is distrib­uted and help choose which climate solu­tions the money goes to.

“The truth is that working-class fami­lies are paying an enor­mous amount of money for energy, and they’re paying money for energy that is causing them health prob­lems, every­thing from asthma to upper respi­ra­tory disease,” said Yeampierre. ​“Their money is being poured into their poor health.”

“We were trying to raise climate conscious­ness. We were trying to let people know about envi­ron­mental health,” she said. ​“We were trying to put money back in people’s pockets.”