Brooklyn homeowners sell green energy to neighbors

NEW YORK (FOX 5 NEWS) - Solar power, or so-called green energy, appeals to Brooklyn homeowner Michael Guerra. A few years ago, he installed solar panels on the roof of his Park Slope brownstone.

"Electricity only gets more expensive over time, and it just seemed to me to be a one-time investment in order to cap my cost," he said.

Now he is part of LO3 Energy's pilot program known as the Brooklyn Microgrid project. A special electric meter installed in his basement tracks his energy consumption and production. Using an app, Guerra will be able to sell excess green energy to his neighbors who do not have solar power.

"if we're able to pool some of my credits and make them available to my neighbors, they may be able to purchase credit at less than the retail rate and I may be able to sell it at more than the wholesale rate," Guerra said.

Elena Adcock works for the Brooklyn Microgrid project.

"Everyone who has a meter is then connected in the network and that network essentially is what allows people to buy and sell," Adcock said.

Brooklyn Microgrid is hoping to expand the pilot project with more than 1,000 more participants either installing solar panels or getting energy from a neighbor by the end of the summer.

"If you want to buy green energy why would you buy it from some distant place? Why wouldn't you buy it from your own block?" said Sasha Santiago of LO3 Energy Brooklyn Microgrid.

The pilot program is still taking off. But if it is successful, participants envision a day when all of Brooklyn is powered by green energy.