Village of Le Roy leaders are considering whether to say yes to spending $6,500 on a National Grid utility study for a solar project on the roof of the village Wastewater Treatment Plant.
Solar Liberty of Buffalo proposes a 670-kilowatt rooftop net metering solar project for the village of Le Roy. The company says the project will cost about $1.452 million, and the village net project cost would be $849,300.55. It would save the village almost $89,900 in the first year, $8,785 a month. The village is considering installing a rooftop solar array at its wastewater treatment facility.
National Grid requires the village to pay $6,500 for a utility study before National Grid completes an interconnection review.
At this week’s Village Board meeting, Solar Liberty Commercial Sales Consultant Dean Stanfield said that three years ago he met with Wastewater Treatment Plant Superintendent Steven Carroll to explore ways to protect the town and village from rising electricity costs.
“Whenever you look at a project like this, No. 1, the numbers have to make sense for long-term savings. No. 2, the next step is to conduct what’s called a utility study,” Stanfield said. “That’s submitting the project to National Grid and then they have to approve the project. If there’s any utility upgrades that are required, they bring those to our attention, and we say ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ from there.”
Stanfield noted National Grid had required a $300,000 interconnection upgrade, which Mayor Greg “Porp” Rogers said would not work.
“What we did is, we found another way around that to really mitigate the cost – the $300,000,” Stanfield said. “All we’re asking for tonight is … a $6,500 restudy commitment. Once you do that, they (National Grid) will come back to us with their findings, and then we can make a decision from there.”
Solar Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing Robert Gauchat said the company proposes using net metering for this project. Sunlight would shine on modules. The modules produce direct current power and an inverter converts it to alternating current electricity. The plant building uses the electricity first, and any remaining electricity passes through the meter and is sent to the grid for compensation.
“Essentially, with net metering, you’re going to create solar energy on the ground or on a rooftop. The excess energy goes to the grid,” he said. “You essentially are reducing the need for any electricity from the grid … because it’s getting fed into the building. Any excess is going out to the grid and then you start to get these credits. It’s just a different setup that saves on equipment. National Grid’s going to provide credits to you.”
Electricity would run the treatment plant first. With the treatment plant being a 24-hour facility, the facility would take electricity from the grid at night.
“During the daytime … you won’t need electricity for that meter from the grid,” Gauchat said. “One of the meters at the treatment plant uses more than $60,000 worth of electricity in a year, and the other uses about $4,400 worth. “What we determined is if we tie into this lower-usage meter … we can generate so much electricity with the same set up, that we can actually end up sending $85,000 worth of credits to offset this $60,000 bill that you have at the wastewater treatment plant and approximately another $25,000 that you can use for whatever – the fire department, police departrment, other meters around the (village),” he said. “Essentially, this reduces cost, gets rid of the secondary service … that caused the utility upgrades that National Grid said was going to be $300,000. We eliminate a lot of that.”
National Grid will credit the village for every kilowatt-hour that goes into the grid. “On average, we figure that’s going to be, in year one … about 13 cents a kilowatt-hour,” Gauchat said. “It pays off your demand charges. It pays off your basic service charges. You can just do a lot more with those monies.”
National Grid may still say there are upgrade costs even if the village pursues the Solar Liberty proposal.
“What they told us on the phone is that if you go to net metering and you pay for the study, which is $6,500, which is not bad for National Grid … They’ll study that. They said, ‘This is the best way to potentially mitigate that,” Gauchat said.
A $6,500 cost to understand whether Solar Liberty’s proposal is viable is a good investment for the village, he said. “After that, then we come back to the (village) with what their findings are, and we talk about it with you, and you decide, ‘Does it make sense?'”
There is a time sensitivity to a decision on whether to pay for the study.
“Part of this proposal that we have for you includes the Direct Pay, which is the 30% payment from the federal government,” Gauchat said. “Your system … we have to get that installed by the end of 2027 in order for you to get those monies. After that … the ITC (Investment Tax Credit) Direct Pay goes away with the federal government. That’s why we wanted to just get it moving if you’re interested. We hope you are because you’ve invested a lot of time at this project.”
For $6,500, to see if this still makes sense for the village is a logical investment, according to Gauchat. The lifespan of the system Solar Liberty proposes is about 25 years. The savings for the village over that period will be about $1.7 million, Stanfield said.
“You extend that another 10 years, $3 million for the (village). The village of Le Roy will save, based on the forecast, $3 million in net savings – that’s after you pay the system off. That, to me, is attractive, with the electric costs going up.”
Trustee William Kettle asked whether, if the study comes back, the $300,000 in upgrades will be needed to “greenlight” the Solar Liberty project. The $300,000 would put the village in the same situation it was in previously, he said.
“Based on our discussions with National Grid and our engineers, they’re forecasting much less – meaning, I don’t want to commit to $100,000, but it would be less than $100,000 based on our experience,” Stanfield said. “We don’t know until they come back with the study findings.”
Village resident Jasmine Morrow asked whether Solar Liberty’s estimates include a possible reduction in return during the winter for snow getting on the panels.
“We have to estimate the production of the system. Our estimate of the production is about 723,000 kilowatt-hours a year. You’re going to have lower production in the winter months and you’re going to have real high production in the summer months,” Gauchat said. “That’s when you’re going to be generating more credits to send to your other bills. It absolutely incorporates the snow cover and the typical radiance of Le Roy, N.Y., the sunlight that you get here.”
Trustee James Bonacquisti said $849,000 is a lot of money. The $3 million in savings over 35 years is speculation, he felt.
“I know there’s stuff that’s happened here in the village in the past. We thought we were going to make a lot of money on a compost facility,” he said. “We finally paid for that after how many years?”
Stanfield said Solar Liberty gave the village contact information for other customers it could call to ask them about their experiences with the company. Bonacquisti said he has some fear when it comes to solar.
“I see what’s happening with solar fields in this area and it’s out of control,” he said. “You look at Elba, Byron … That farmland is gone. I’m not a big fan of solar.”
Stanfield asked if solar panels are better on a roof than on farmland. Rogers said yes and Bonacquisti said yes, in this case.
Rogers told Solar Liberty it would have an answer by next Wednesday on whether the village will approve having the study done for $6,500.
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