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Transcript/ScriptUS - NEW YORK COMMUNITY SOLAR
HEADLINE: Community Solar Powers New York City’s Green Grid
TEASER: Urban rooftops act as mini power plants helping feed the Big Apple’s insatiable appetite for electricity
PUBLISHED: 7/27/2022 at 6:49p
BYLINE: Aron Ranen
CONTRIBUTOR:
DATELINE: New York City, USA
VIDEOGRAPHER: Aron Ranen
PRODUCER: Aron Ranen
SCRIPT EDITORS: Igor Tsikhanenka, Tom Turco
VIDEO SOURCES: VOA
PLATFORMS: TV_X_
TRT: 2:48
VID APPROVED BY: Reifenrath
TYPE: TV
EDITORS NOTE: ))
((INTRO))
[[Community solar is becoming one of the answers to no-emission energy sources. Located in urban areas – on the rooftops of commercial skyscrapers, apartment buildings and warehouses – the micro solar plants are starting to play a larger role in America’s quest for a green electrical grid, especially amid increasing heat waves around the world. Aron Ranen reports from New York City.]] ((NAT SOUND STREET SOUNDS))
((NARRATOR)) With the nation and world under threat from global warming, and recent heat waves across the globe, many are working on solutions to cut down on carbon emissions that scientists say are contributing to these high temperatures. One of the solutions rests on top of America’s empty urban rooftops. [[Radio track: Russell Wilcox, Founder and CEO of Urban Energy]] ((Russell Wilcox, Urban Energy Founder (In English) )) “The heat wave, especially this week, has been extreme — it’s been extreme in Europe and all around the world as well. I personally care a lot about the environment, and so I'm trying to build a really urban-centric, clean energy company to help mitigate climate change.” ((NARRATOR)) Compact solar farms like this one in New York’s borough of Brooklyn feed their power back into the utilities' grid, providing a green energy source that can be shared by all the utilities' customers.
((Russell Wilcox, Urban Energy Founder (In English)) “We're acting as sort of a mini power plant on a rooftop to put as much energy, clean energy into the grid as possible.” ((NARRATOR)) The power generated by this rooftop system is transmitted to the basement of this building where it's fed directly into New York City's electrical grid. ((Russell Wilcox, Urban Energy Founder (In English) )) “So, the power is coming from the roof through this conduit, it’s all DC power that runs through into the inverters. The inverters then convert it from DC Direct current to AC alternating current. So, it goes from the inverters gets combined and then goes over to our solar meter. This is where the utility company can tell exactly how much solar is generated.” ((NARRATOR)) Once the energy is fed into the grid, it’s shared with all the utilities’ customers. This process of creating community solar is taking off across America.
((Source: U.S. Department of Energy))
((GRAPHIC TITLE: US States That Support Community Solar Power))
Twenty-two states and the District of Columbia have policies that support the use of community solar power.
Scientists wonder, though, if community solar and solar energy per se will keep pace. [[Radio track: Vijay Modi is a professor at Columbia University]] ((Vijay Modi, Columbia University Professor (In English) )) “I don't know. But I think we need it even if it provides a small piece of the pie.”
((NARRATOR)) Modi says the situation is dire, and action is needed from everybody.
((Vijay Modi, Columbia University Professor (In English) ))
“The urgency of climate change, and many people are even just calling it a climate crisis. And look at the heat wave we are in. If lots and lots of people do small things, it can add up.”
((MANDATORY COURTESY: Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration))
((GRAPHIC TITLE: Sources of Electricity Generation in the United States - 2021))
((NARRATOR))
Renewable energy sources account for about 20% of energy generated in the United States, with solar contributing less than 3% to the total output. But with President Joe
Biden's commitment to a zero-emissions power sector by 2035, and the help of such community solar farms, these numbers are sure to rise.
((Aron Ranen, for VOA News
NewsML Media TopicsArts, Culture, Entertainment and Media
NetworkVOA
Location (dateline)New York City, USA
Embargo DateJuly 27, 2022 19:24 EDT
Byline((Aron Ranen, for VOA News, New York City))
Brand / Language ServiceVoice of America - English
