More and more people and municipalities are turning to solar energy. Two Tompkins County towns are pushing for solar arrays to serve area residents. Philip O'Driscoll explains the projects and their potential benefits.
In October, New York State and Tompkins County welcomed their first community solar array. Built in the Town of Ulysses, the array allows residents to buy into a set of panels that credits their energy usage.
Now that same concept is an option for a couple of neighboring towns, one in Newfield and two others in Dryden.
"One site is one property owner, and they're going to actually have three different 2-megawatt systems on it which is on Millard Hill. The other site is also on Millard Hill, closer to Ithaca," said Newfield Town Supervisor Jeff Hart.
"One is right off Route 13. It's right off ... I think it's the old RPM tree property," said Dryden Town Supervisor Jason Leifer. "And then the other is near Turkey Hill on some Cornell property."
The land they will be built on has already been negotiated with the respective property owners. Both towns are each at a different stage of negotiations with the companies looking to build them.
"It seems to be moving forward, and right now, New York State has a 15-year exemption where solar panel arrays are exempt from taxes," Hart said, "so most of the work right now has been to come up with a PILOT agreement with it."
"What we've been working on along with the Planning Board this past year is to amend our renewable energy law to allow up to 2-megawatt systems, which is the size that NYSEG allows to connect to the grid," Leifer said.
It's all being done with the hope that residents of both towns will begin seeing the benefits of the move to renewable energy.
"This going to help out the county and the state and the town meet its goals for becoming, basically, a lean, green economic machine," Leifer said.
"Hopefully it will benefit the local residents as far as reduced electric rates on the project and its green energy, which I think everybody agrees is a benefit for everyone in the long run," Hart said.
The Newfield project is anticipated to begin in April. The Dryden projects await approval of a solar array law by the Town Board. Both towns still need to finalize PILOT agreements, but Newfield is closer to doing so.