Clarkstown Town Supervisor Alex Gromack signed a Letter of Intent with a solar contractor on Monday in hopes of getting several million dollars for a possible solar project. Gromack and Councilman George Hoehmann reviewed proposals received from five solar vendors on Friday and selected SolarCity of Albany as the town's “Solar Electric Power Purchase Agreement Provider.” The project for the closed town landfill in West Nyack is described as a “proposed 1.76592 megawatt PV-on-Landfill Project.”
The task of SolarCity of Albany is to apply on Clarkstown’s behalf for some of the $5 million of grant money that the (NYSERDA) is making available for large scale solar projects in the Orange & Rockland service area. The grant would reduce the town’s cost of “solar electricity.”
The Letter of Intent explains the project is tentative and could depend upon the funding being obtained.
“We understand that the Town’s electricity purchase rates under the Proposed Purchase Agreement will be contingent upon your ability to apply financial incentives authorized by the New York Public Service Commission, as ordered Aril 2, 2010, and administered by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA).”
The Letter of Intent was written to “support your firm’s use of the NYSERDA incentives to discount the price of solar electricity for the town.”
The town board voted last week to authorize the supervisor to sign a Letter of Intent. H2M Group of New City is working on a feasibility of the solar project for the capped landfill. The completed report is expected in June.
What's the Town going to do with all this solar energy? Will it be resold to consumers? Will it be used to run Town facilities? Why are they doing this? A lot of unanswered questions in this story.
After SolarCity sells the energy to the Town at a "discounted rate", are they free to sell additional energy to other customers, thus making a profit by using Town land? Who are the winners/losers in this deal? I'm not sure if this is a good or bad thing.
"The task of SolarCity of Albany is to apply on Clarkstown’s behalf for some of the $5 million of grant money that the NYS Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) is making available for large scale solar projects in the Orange & Rockland service area. " How many other large scale solar projects are being proposed in the Orange & Rockland service area? How much will Clarkstown receive from the federal government? Will they have the answer to that prior to starting the project? Grant Money = Our Money...once the town accepts grant money, they are obligated to adhere to the federal mandates that are attached to that money. Nothing for nothing. While the government handout sounds good, the town should be absolutely sure that they will not be incurring any unforeseen financial liabilities in the future.
Town officials have said they will hold public workshops on the feasibility study. The feasibility study is expected to be finished in June.
"The federal government spends about $12 billion a year subsidizing all forms of renewable energy production...." SolarCity is installing solar panels on military housing. "SolarCity will own and operate the solar panels, and the companies that own the housing units will send a monthly check to SolarCity for the electricity."... http://money.cnn.com/2011/09/07/technology/solar_city_military/index.htm Can we, the taxpayers, really afford to be spending so much money on solar energy?
I simply hope the town of clarkstown and solarcity will use local labor for the project and not send clarkstown tax dollars and grant money back to Albany in the wallets of the people who live up there. Keep the money circulating here. Rockland has alot of qualified installers and most labor unions continuously train and certify their members in new technologies installations.