Riverhead Town moving ahead with solar energy plans

Riverhead Town is moving forward with plans to install solar energy panels at the Youngs Avenue, Calverton landfill site and is considering having solar arrays installed over a variety of municipally owned parking lots throughout the town.

At its year-end special meeting Tuesday afternoon, the board is expected to award a bid to Borrego Solar, of Lowell, Mass., for the installation of a solar photovoltaic energy system at the landfill site.

Under its bid, one of six received by the town in response to its bid notice, Borrego Solar will pay the town an annual lease payment to be determined by the L.I. Power Authority’s feed-in tariff rate, which is expected to range from 21 to 26 cents per kilowatt hour. The deal should net the town between $100,000 and $300,000 per year, depending on the rate, according to Councilman George Gabrielsen, who pushed to have the renewal energy system installed at the capped landfill site.

“We looked at everything, including financial strength and experience,” to determine the most responsible bidder, Gabrielsen said. Borrego has installed solar systems on capped landfills throughout the northeast, he said.

Borrego will have until Jan. 31 to make application to LIPA, New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, or any other governmental/public authority sponsoring solar energy initiatives.

Riverhead previously awarded a bid for the landfill solar arrays to Borrego in August 2012, but the company and the Riverhead landfill proposal were not selected by LIPA.

On Tuesday, the board is also expected to authorize a request for proposals for solar photovoltaic energy projects over a number of town-owned parking lots, similar to the solar “carport” installations Suffolk County has had built on county-owned facilities.

At its Dec. 19 work session, board members discussed 19 potential sites for the solar-panel installations.

Supervisor Sean Walter said he is “not a fan” of the idea of the solar installations at town parks or in downtown parking lots.

“I think they’re really ugly,” Walter said. In some spots, they would be “horrific,” he said. “The residents will hang us.”

In issuing the request for proposals, the board will not be committing to any of the installation sites, Gabrielsen said.

Income from the installations would be about 25 cents per square foot, Gabrielsen said. He presented board members with a list of 19 parking lots that would yield more than 743,000 square feet of solar arrays, which could realize the town about $185,750 in annual revenue, based on the 25-cent “industry standard,” the councilman said.

“This is income and it will help our taxpayers,” Councilman John Dunleavy agreed. “I would want to see what [the solar energy firms] say.”

In addition to the lease payments, the town would get new lighting for each site and responsibility for snow removal would shift to the solar company.

The town-owned parking lots on Gabrielsen’s list of potential sites include those at Stotzky Park, EPCAL ballfields, Riverhead Town Hall, Riverhead Town Hall West, Court Street, Griffing and Roanoke, First Street, the Riverhead Senior and Human Resource Center and the Jamesport boat ramp parking lot. Also on the list were the drainage areas at Edwards and Riley avenues and on Horton Avenue, near the Horton Avenue park.

Like the supervisor, Councilman James Wooten bristled at some of the suggested sites. “It looks like we’re just throwing these things everywhere we have a piece of land,” he said.

Both Walter and Wooten didn’t like the idea of installing the carport structures in downtown parking lots.

“You want to be aesthetically pleasing downtown,” Walter said.

Wooten said he is reluctant to have the town “locked into” any parking lot configuration for 20 years, because downtown revitalization is “really in the infant stages.”

All four board members agreed to knock the Jamesport boat launch site off the list.

“Imagine you’re driving down beautiful Peconic Bay Boulevard and you look out on the water and you can’t see anything because of solar panels,” Walter said.

“But look at the revenue,” Gabrielsen said. “You’re talking about $20,000 a year there.”

Riverhead officials are also looking into installing solar arrays on the rooftops of municipal buildings. Besides producing income for the town, the solar companies would replace current roofs which are in need of repair or replacement, Gabrielsen said.