Standing next to a reservoir on Vliet Boulevard, Cohoes City Planner Joe Seman-Graves is leading a group around the body of water. It’s the site where city leaders envision will be home to 8,000 floating solar panels.

“So with that, there’s going to be a lot of questions that we’re going to answer and we’ve been at the forefront with all these various departments, whether it would be NYSERDA, National Grid, the department of health, the department of environmental conservation,” said Seman-Graves, speaking to an audience while also referring to a design of the project.

City Mayor Bill Keeler says the idea for this project was sparked by the pandemic and the need to save money. Currently, the city spends about $660,000 annually on its electricity bill for municipal facilities. Keeler says the floating solar installation would generate enough energy to cover 100% of the electricity used in city buildings.

“There’s not a lot of green space we could use in Cohoes, so the reservoir was kind of like the natural spot to have it,” Keeler said.

It’s is a relatively new technology that would be municipally owned. The current price tag for the floating solar array is nearly $6 million. City leaders are seeking $4.7 million in federal money for the project.

On Tuesday morning, they made the case for it with U.S. Rep. Paul Tonko.

“The big issues that will solve the climate crisis come both in energy capacity and water-related projects,” Tonko said. He says he will be advocating for this project to be included in the appropriations bill.

City leaders hope to cover the remaining $1.2 million with grants and other sources. If it gets the green light, it would take about just over a year to complete.

“It’s going to be exciting if it comes to fruition,” Keeler said.