How Rooftop Community Solar Helps New York City Building Owners Meet Local Law 97, 94, and 92 Requirements

In New York City, buildings are subject to several local climate laws passed in 2019 as part of the Climate Mobilization Act. Here, we'll be providing an overview of three of those laws: Local Laws 92, 94, and 97. We'll share how serving as a community solar host is not only a path to compliance and/or liability reduction under these laws, but also a new source of long-term lease revenue for building owners.

Local Law 97

LL97 was put in place to help reduce the amount of greenhouse gases emitted by buildings in New York City. The target under LL97 is for all buildings 25,000 square feet and larger to reduce their emissions over a series of compliance periods through 2050. Emissions limits will grow more stringent in each proceeding compliance period. The first compliance period started last year: 2024-2029.

All buildings covered under LL97 will be required to submit a report regarding their emissions to the Department of Buildings by May 1, 2025.

Via this calculator, you can enter your building's address and find out how much you will owe in penalties each year if your building's emissions are not sufficiently reduced.

Building owners can significantly reduce their buildings' reported emissions by installing rooftop solar. Traditionally, this requires a significant upfront financial investment and complex project management which is not a feasible route for many building owners.

Community solar, however, is a model of solar project ownership in which an entity separate from the building's owner pays for, owns, and operates a rooftop solar project on a building. In return, the building owner receives long-term lease payments for their rooftop space where the solar project sits in addition to reducing and oftentimes erasing their LL97 fine liability.

For building owners looking for ways to significantly reduce their building's reported emissions with no capital investment, earn long-term lease revenue on rooftop space that would otherwise go unmonetized, and maximize the value of their asset, becoming a community solar host is an ideal option.

Local Laws 92 and 94

LLs 92 and 94 are essentially equivalent but apply to buildings of different sizes: 94 applies to large buildings while 92 is for smaller buildings.

The two laws require buildings under construction and buildings undergoing certain renovations to install sustainable roofs, which can be either a rooftop solar project, a green (vegetation) roof, or a combination of the two.

Becoming a community solar host will automatically bring your building into compliance with whichever of these two laws is applicable to your building.

You can learn more about Local Laws 92 and 94 here.

Working with us

Based in New York City, we've been working in solar in the city for over a decade and have had the pleasure of partnering with dozens of building owners like yourself.

While we'd love to work with any and all building owners, in order for project economics to be feasible, we are only able pursue projects on buildings with rooftops and/or parking lots totaling at least 30,000 square feet. In some cases, we are able to include smaller buildings as part of a larger portfolio.

If you own or represent a building with a rooftop or parking lot exceeding 30,000 square feet and would like to learn more about how becoming a community solar host can help you comply with New York City's local climate laws, please fill out the Get Started form at the bottom of this page and we'll be in touch shortly!

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