Farmingville, NY - On October 6, Supervisor Ed Romaine and Councilman Dan Panico visited the Town’s Manorville Compost Facility to assess the progress of the solar panel installation at the on-site Renewable Energy Generating Facility. The solar farm will eventually include 3800 ground-mount solar arrays using low profile, ballasted mounts that require no ground penetration or the clear cutting of any trees. The new facility will generate 1.2 Megawatts (MW) DC of power, enough to provide electricity to 1000 homes, 24 hours a day. The Renewable Energy Generating Facility is managed by Agilitas Energy LLC, who have a Power Purchase Agreement with PSEG Long Island and a Site Lease Agreement with the Town.
In May of 2014, the Town was awarded a Feed-In Tariff from PSEG Long Island for solar arrays on four Town-owned sites: the Manorville Compost Facility, Brookhaven Calabro Airport, Holtsville Ecology Site and the Brookhaven Landfill. The sites were selected after a review was conducted by PSEG Long Island, on behalf of LIPA to determine the likelihood of a successful project. This is part of the utility company’s multi-phase Clean Solar Initiative program designed to produce clean, renewable power for Long Island. The Town will lease the sites to ACE, a solar developer, and anticipates receiving funds of approximately $4 million to $5 million over the life of the systems for these initial four locations and awarded capacity. ACE will cover the cost of all construction and maintenance and provide the power to LIPA through a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with the utility company. The 54,000 solar panels that will be installed are expected to generate 12 megawatts AC (15 megawatts DC) of electricity (18,000,000 kilowatt hours a year), enough to power 2,500 homes for 24 hours a day.
