County board considers case for solar power agreement
NORWICH – After hearing the case to lease county-owned land to the City of Norwich for a comprehensive solar power project, the Chenango County Board of Supervisors on Monday referred two drafted motions to the county’s Finance and Public Works committees for further consideration.
The two draft resolutions will allow the county to enter an intermunicipal agreement with the city that my result in the installation of several power generating solar panels on a county-owned parcel along State Route 12, adjacent to the county landfill in the Town of North Norwich.
One or both of those resolutions may make it back to the Board of Supervisors for adoption next month, depending upon recommendation from committee members.
At Monday’s monthly meeting of the Board of Supervisors, county officials were given details of the project which the city says would result in big savings for local taxpayers. The city’s been investigating a possible solar project since August, when city council members learned of federal funding and additional grant opportunities available through the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA).
Norwich has since partnered with SolarCity, a California-based energy service provider specializing in solar power technologies all across the country. SolarCity had representatives present at Monday’s Board of Supervisors meeting to answer questions and push the case to install solar equipment on the company’s preferred North Norwich site.
“We urge you to move the intermunicipal agreement forward,” said Bill Buchan, an attorney representing SolarCity and the City of Norwich. “We think it’s a very good program that could provide some very significant savings.”
City officials, along with representatives of SolarCity, first pitched a land lease agreement proposal to the county’s Public Works committee in January. The 26-year agreement would allow the city to use the dormant gravel pit next to the landfill to house an array of solar panels which would generate power for municipal buildings including City Hall, the Norwich Police Department, the city DPW, and the firehouse. In return, the county would receive approximately 2.5 cents per kilowatt to offset some of their own energy costs.
According to SolarCity, the panels would dump approximately 3.5 million kilowatt hours on the power grid each year. The city would pay SolarCity 6.9 cents per kilowatt hour generated; but that cost would be offset by a 10.9 cent credit from NY State Electric and Gas (NYSEG) – a credit made possible by federal and NYSERDA funding.
The project is expected to save Norwich taxpayers nearly $100,000 in the first year and more than $4 million over 25 years.
SolarCity is also negotiating a possible agreement with Norwich City Schools that could lead to savings for the school district, said Buchan.
“Once we understand where we will put it and what our costs are going to be, we will have the opportunity to go to the city school district and the county, and tell them how we’re going to share this power,” he added.
Savings aside, some county officials pointed to logistical concerns like: Who will be responsible for maintenance? What happens at the end of 25 years? And what if SolarCity goes out of business before the lease expires?
While SolarCity said it will assume responsibility for repairs and maintenance of equipment, County DPW Superintendent Shawn Fry said the real issue is the impact that solar panel installation may have on potential use for the site in the future (although it’s been unused for more than a decade).
“If anything did ever happen that none of us want to see, God forbid, the Department of Conservation could make us tear up that array and make us do more drilling, more well monitoring and water monitoring, or ground sampling ... It’s just too close for comfort in my opinion,” said Fry. “I’m all for innovative technologies, but I think it would behoove the county to do more investigation and look at other possible areas.”
SolarCity has already contracted with several other municipalities in New York, including nearby Madison and Otsego counties. Despite environmental concerns, the company has actually opted for landfill sites in the past, saying that such locations are ideal because environmental issues restrict future development.
“If they can put solar panels on top of a landfill, they can put one next to a landfill,” said Preston Supervisor Peter Flanagan. “They’ve done it all over the place. And we’re never going to do a darn thing with that site anyway, and everybody knows it.”
The two draft resolutions allowing the county to move forward with an intermunicipal agreement will be taken up by the county’s Finance and Public Works committees later this month.
“One thing that would give us great pleasure is to get to a point where all the power that we use as a county came from anywhere but Arab oil,” said Pharsalia Supervisor Dennis Brown. “That’s something we could be proud to say.”
The two draft resolutions will allow the county to enter an intermunicipal agreement with the city that my result in the installation of several power generating solar panels on a county-owned parcel along State Route 12, adjacent to the county landfill in the Town of North Norwich.
One or both of those resolutions may make it back to the Board of Supervisors for adoption next month, depending upon recommendation from committee members.
At Monday’s monthly meeting of the Board of Supervisors, county officials were given details of the project which the city says would result in big savings for local taxpayers. The city’s been investigating a possible solar project since August, when city council members learned of federal funding and additional grant opportunities available through the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA).
Norwich has since partnered with SolarCity, a California-based energy service provider specializing in solar power technologies all across the country. SolarCity had representatives present at Monday’s Board of Supervisors meeting to answer questions and push the case to install solar equipment on the company’s preferred North Norwich site.
“We urge you to move the intermunicipal agreement forward,” said Bill Buchan, an attorney representing SolarCity and the City of Norwich. “We think it’s a very good program that could provide some very significant savings.”
City officials, along with representatives of SolarCity, first pitched a land lease agreement proposal to the county’s Public Works committee in January. The 26-year agreement would allow the city to use the dormant gravel pit next to the landfill to house an array of solar panels which would generate power for municipal buildings including City Hall, the Norwich Police Department, the city DPW, and the firehouse. In return, the county would receive approximately 2.5 cents per kilowatt to offset some of their own energy costs.
According to SolarCity, the panels would dump approximately 3.5 million kilowatt hours on the power grid each year. The city would pay SolarCity 6.9 cents per kilowatt hour generated; but that cost would be offset by a 10.9 cent credit from NY State Electric and Gas (NYSEG) – a credit made possible by federal and NYSERDA funding.
The project is expected to save Norwich taxpayers nearly $100,000 in the first year and more than $4 million over 25 years.
SolarCity is also negotiating a possible agreement with Norwich City Schools that could lead to savings for the school district, said Buchan.
“Once we understand where we will put it and what our costs are going to be, we will have the opportunity to go to the city school district and the county, and tell them how we’re going to share this power,” he added.
Savings aside, some county officials pointed to logistical concerns like: Who will be responsible for maintenance? What happens at the end of 25 years? And what if SolarCity goes out of business before the lease expires?
While SolarCity said it will assume responsibility for repairs and maintenance of equipment, County DPW Superintendent Shawn Fry said the real issue is the impact that solar panel installation may have on potential use for the site in the future (although it’s been unused for more than a decade).
“If anything did ever happen that none of us want to see, God forbid, the Department of Conservation could make us tear up that array and make us do more drilling, more well monitoring and water monitoring, or ground sampling ... It’s just too close for comfort in my opinion,” said Fry. “I’m all for innovative technologies, but I think it would behoove the county to do more investigation and look at other possible areas.”
SolarCity has already contracted with several other municipalities in New York, including nearby Madison and Otsego counties. Despite environmental concerns, the company has actually opted for landfill sites in the past, saying that such locations are ideal because environmental issues restrict future development.
“If they can put solar panels on top of a landfill, they can put one next to a landfill,” said Preston Supervisor Peter Flanagan. “They’ve done it all over the place. And we’re never going to do a darn thing with that site anyway, and everybody knows it.”
The two draft resolutions allowing the county to move forward with an intermunicipal agreement will be taken up by the county’s Finance and Public Works committees later this month.
“One thing that would give us great pleasure is to get to a point where all the power that we use as a county came from anywhere but Arab oil,” said Pharsalia Supervisor Dennis Brown. “That’s something we could be proud to say.”
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