14 Dec Potential solar project eyeing IDA assistance
The Chautauqua County Industrial Development Agency’s board took its meeting Tuesday on the road to Eason Hall in Westfield. Members learned about a small solar farm that’s being contemplated in the town of Portland.
Jeremy McCool, commercial development manager for Buffalo Solar Solutions, told the board that they have a client in E2I Adventures that wants to offset costs of its buildings through solar energy. McCool said E2I Adventures owns apartments in Western New York. By installing a solar farm and connecting it to the local grid, they’d be able to allocate bill credits to its apartment buildings.
The small solar farm, a 200-kilowatt remote net metered project, is being proposed on property between Route 5 and Interstate 90 in Portland that’s owned by a couple. McCool said it’s the only area in the town that allows for solar. McCool said it all started when the couple called Buffalo Solar Solutions about solar for their home. While they didn’t qualify for credits, there was another opportunity that presented itself.
“I realized they may not be a great fit for solar right now, but they have a lot of good space,” he said. “I talked to them and they were interested in leasing some old farmland they have in the back of their property. We went through the code of the town and county and it perfectly qualifies for the project. We already had E2I Adventures onboard looking for this type of plan, so it matched up so perfectly.”
McCool said they plan to connect the power that’s generated from the solar farm to a National Grid pole across the street from the proposed site. The pole contains a 13.5 kilovolt line that runs along Swede and Martin Roads and Route 20. McCool noted that power generated from the solar farm will benefit the area as it’ll improve power quality.
“Rather than have indirect energy from a generator much farther down the line, it will help regulate the power going into homes and businesses in that corridor,” he said.
(Read the full Observer Today article here.)
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