KPH Healthcare Services (a New York company and the parent company of Kinney Drugs, HealthDirect Pharmacy Services, ProAct, its PBM, Noble Specialty Pharmacy, and KinnectTM clinical care pharmacy) has enrolled a number of its New York stores and facilities in Nexamp’s community solar program. Advised by Power Management Company, a Rochester, NY-based energy management consultancy, KPH took this step to significantly reduce and control its overall electricity costs by supporting local solar projects.

New York State’s newly minted community solar program enables solar developers such as Nexamp to work to improve accessibility for residents and businesses. Nexamp community solar farms generate clean electricity that is fed directly to the local utility grid. KPH will offset its electric bills with solar energy produced at sites in Madison and Chemung counties. Construction at the sites began in 2020 and the sites are expected to be commissioned this year and into the spring of 2021.

KPH will serve as an anchor offtaker for three local solar farms, taking upward of 40% of each solar project’s output. “Nexamp has been helping businesses implement solar for more than a decade, leveraging a wealth of experience and expertise to make the process simple and affordable,” noted Zaid Ashai, Nexamp CEO. “Businesses like KPH are embracing the advantages of distributed solar, such as enhanced sustainability, while also realizing savings on their utility bills.” As an additional value, KPH and Nexamp are also working to make the cost-saving benefits available to KPH employees and customers.

For almost 20 years, Power Management has been KPH’s trusted energy advisor. Over the past several years, Power Management has helped the company evaluate solar options, seeking the right fit. “This opportunity made it possible for KPH to leverage renewable energy and further control and reduce their annual energy spend across multiple utility zones. Avoiding the physical installation of solar panels across multiple facilities coupled with guaranteed savings and zero out-of-pocket costs made Nexamp’s community solar offer a win-win for KPH,” noted John Burt, CEO of Power Management.

Michael Burgess, VP Financial Planning and Treasury for KPH, stated that the organization had been discussing the potential of a community-based project for quite some time, but held off for the right opportunity. “Being good stewards of the environment is an important part of the values we hold as a company. Community solar is an easy way for us to support clean energy while also saving money that can be used for other customer-facing priorities.”

KPH is expected to start deriving cost savings from the community solar programs in the fall of 2020.