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Planners might pick peas over installation of solar farm off Bank Street Road

By Howard B. Owens

Members of the Town of Batavia Planning Board responded coolly to a proposed solar farm off of Bank Street Road at its monthly meeting Tuesday night.

Buffalo-based attorney Gregory P. Scholand, representing SunEdison, outlined the company's plan for 15 acres that are currently cultivated for peas.

The farm would produce two megawatts of electricity, which is enough energy for about 20 300 homes. (CORRECTION)

Scholand told board members he had to be honest -- the solar farm won't create jobs and any increase in assessed value, which means more tax revenue, will be delayed by state-backed incentives for solar installations.

"In other words," said Board Member Lou Paganello, "the only people who will benefit are the landowner, National Grid and SunEdison."

Paganello was one of the most vocal members of the board expressing concerns about the proposal, but he also said he was intrigued by it and doesn't want to just kill the idea without learning more.

He also suggested the town needs to develop a plan for dealing with solar farms since this is unlikely to be the last proposal the town is asked to consider.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo is trying to push New York toward a stronger solar future. He's committed $1 billion to NY-Sun with the goal of eventually generating three gigawatts of electricity from sunlight across the state. That would be the equivalent of taking 23,000 cars off the road. According to the project's Web site, that much installed capacity will make the solar industry self-sufficient in New York and subsidies will no longer be needed.

The initiative is the reason SolarCity, a company owned primarily by technology multi-billionaire Elon Musk, is building a manufacturing plant in Buffalo that is expected to create 1,460 jobs. 

Solar is coming on strong nationally, both because of the investments of Musk -- a hard-charging entrepreneur who made his initial fortune with two Internet startups, including PayPal, and who is also responsible for the all-electric Tesla luxury sports car and the Space X program -- and because China flooded the market a couple of years ago with inexpensive solar panels.

That, and greater efficiencies in installation and substantial tax breaks and government subsidies have helped reduce costs for power companies, businesses and homeowners.

It doesn't matter, though, to local planning boards that are being asked to back projects that potentially divert productive land to massive complexes of metal and glass.

In Genesee County, of course, that other productive use is farming, the kind of farming that produces grains, vegetables and milk. How much soil does the local area want to convert to solar panels?

"You open the door for one farm to do this then everyone is going to want to do it," said Board Member Jonathan Long.

Board members seemed unanimous in sharing this concern.

The proposition, put forward by Scholand, that solar farms help reduce an area's carbon footprint, was countered by Long.

"Peas are already taking a lot of carbon out of the air," he said.

The town needs a plan for dealing with solar and Scholand agreed. He said SunEdison fully supports local jurisdictions developing local ordinances to govern solar installations. 

SunEdison hasn't made a formal application yet, but when it does, the Planning Board will be asked to become the lead agency for the environmental review process.

Chairwoman Kathy Jasinski expressed some doubt about the board's willingness to take on that role when its members still know too little about solar energy, the impacts of such farms, how they might affect neighboring property owners and what the benefits might be for local residents. The board needs a quick education in these subjects, Jasinski suggested.

If the Town of Batavia was to reject the proposal, it would be the second time this year that a local government body turned down a solar farm in the county.

In January, SolarCity approached the County about building a solar farm next to County Building #2, but concerns about the viability of SolarCity, whether the subsidies that would help the county save $500,000 and what might eventually become of the infrastructure, led the Ways and Means Committee to reject the proposal.

Meanwhile, solar companies have started pitching subsidized solar installations to local residents. One company had a booth at Summer in the City.

cj sruger

here we go again, just like when the wind companys came thru, why do they want prime land for solar panels, does the sun not shine in run down, or unused areas?

Aug 19, 2015, 7:57pm Permalink
Christopher Putnam

Who cares where they put it? Alternative energy sources are needed for the future of our planet. The Coal and the Oil and the natural gas are FINITE resources, they will run out and it will be sooner than you think. There are four types of alternative energy sources, wind, solar, tidal, and nuclear. I dont see a major shoreline anywhere nearby, we already have wind farms, so maybe its time you ask yourself what you would rather have in your neighborhood, a nuclear reactor or some solar panels? Would you rather that your descendants have to live life in a smog filled, overheated planet? Perhaps they should do without electricity altogether? Once more so its clear, the coal, oil and natural gas WILL RUN OUT. Think of the people that will come after you and stop thinking of yourself.

Aug 20, 2015, 3:20am Permalink
Howard B. Owens

Niagara Falls?

I spoke with an employee of Solar City recently who was actually skeptical of adoption, especially residential, of solar energy in WNY because of this little electric generator called Niagara Falls, which helps give us among the cheapest, most reliable power in the nation.

That said, the falls generates only about 1/4 of WNY's power, so I think there is room for alternative energy sources.

Aug 20, 2015, 6:44am Permalink
Raymond Richardson

I lived on Long Island for 6 years and dealt with L.I.P.A.(Long Island Power Authority) for our electric service.

They have no natural resource to generate power for Long Island, including Brooklyn and Queens, which are technically ON Long Island.

L.I.P.A. uses antiquated diesel generators and the cost to customers is much higher than here in W.N.Y.

Average monthly L.I.P.A. bill down there was $165.

I agree with Howard, there is room for alternative sources for energy.

Aug 20, 2015, 10:42am Permalink
Ed Hartgrove

For those out there that may be interested in experimenting with solar power, I'd like to suggest that they check out some of the (hundreds) of videos posted by a young couple from Miami, FL.
Here's a sample www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljiTNRiLh-o
They have many more, making parabolic mirrors from discarded Dish network satellite dishes, to homemade Fresnel lenes, to re-using small solar panels linked together, etc.
There's videos of them cooking eggs, cooking frozen fish sticks, making popcorn (which didn't work out too well, as it hopped out onto the ground)
Their entire list of videos can be found by going to youtube, then type greenpowerscience in the 'search' box.
Just thought some might be interested in experimenting. Enjoy!

Aug 20, 2015, 2:28pm Permalink

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