A project in Peekskill over three years in the making, to deploy a floating solar array with a 1.68 megawatt system on the larger side of the city-owned Camp Field Reservoir at 1000 Lindberg Place, has been withdrawn by its applicants.
The joint project by the Garrison-based nonprofit Ecological Citizens Project and Philadelphia-based renewable energy developer Working Power sought to lower energy bills for city residents but was met with continued opposition by several residents due to being planned on a source of drinking water for thousands of residents.
The withdrawal announcement was made by Peekskill Director of Planning and Development Carol Samol at the Planning Commission meeting on Thursday, Oct. 15. Samol said applicants looked at the conditions and found the costs were in excess of what the project could support, thus opting to withdraw their application.

“Working Power ECP LLC concluded that the cost and timing of the necessary infrastructure upgrades would not allow the project to be completed within a reasonable timeframe and in a manner that would have ensured the delivery of the meaningful community benefits that project originally proposed,” Samol told the Peekskill Herald in an email.
In a phone call with the Peekskill Herald, Jason Angell, co-director of the Ecological Citizens Project, and Ian Fischer, co-executive director of Working Power, further expanded on why they decided to withdraw. 
The project was set up to receive federal investment solar tax credits, set to sunset after Dec. 31, 2027, which were estimated to be up to 50 percent of a subsidy of the project cost. However, Fischer said additional required water infrastructure improvements stretched the construction timeline to a point where it could not be done in time to qualify for the credits.

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“There were concerns raised by both Planning Commission members and members of the public around any risks with putting floating solar on the drinking water reservoir,” Angell explained. “And those were concerns as an environmentally-based nonprofit that we shared. Ultimately the Planning Board put a number of conditions to move the project forward, and the cost of those conditions when we had an environmental engineer review them did not allow the project to financially provide the benefits [we anticipated].”

In 2023, the City of Peekskill issued a request for proposals to develop community-owned solar on municipality-owned properties. The Ecological Citizens Project and Working Power applied and were awarded the project in April 2024. The property that rose to the top of the city’s list for development of floating solar was the Camp Field Reservoir.
The project would have been “community-owned,” meaning that the Ecological Citizens Project would have owned half of the project, with all revenue generated going back to the City of Peekskill. It aimed to bring a $2.8 million economic benefit to Peekskill over the project’s 25-year lifetime via lease payments to the city of $645,000, $1.1 million in electricity bill savings, and $1.2 million devoted to the creation of a food sovereignty fund.
A petition created by Peekskill resident Peter Korcz received over 760 signatures in opposition, citing concerns of drinking water contamination, disturbance of aquatic ecosystems and long-term impacts on water quality.

The Herald spoke to residents living nearby to the Camp Field Reservoir to learn their reaction to the project being withdrawn. Carl Pollack, a resident on Lewis Court, said he was elated to hear the announcement.
“The floats might have dispersed microplastics into the reservoir, so I was concerned about that as far as the solar panels sitting on top of the actual water,” Pollack said. “That’s the drinking water for the City of Peekskill.”
Emily Snow-Prendi, a resident on Lindbergh Place, also said she was glad, saying she would have been more supportive of a proposal like the solar canopy and battery project at the Croton-Harmon train station, which saw solar panels placed over portions of the commuter parking lot.
“At first the idea seemed really cool and ingenious and like ‘Why not? But the more I thought about it, why would you put it on our drinking water source? I grew up in Croton and what Croton did down there at the train station, that’s so much better. We have tons of areas like that in Peekskill. Why do we want to wait and find out 10 years down the line, ‘Oops, we shouldn’t have done that.’”

The Herald also spoke on the phone with resident Marcus Ryan, who, at a public hearing on May 12, described the project as necessary amid federal commodity program cuts and energy price spikes.
“I think it was a worthwhile project to raise because we have to be really entrepreneurial in order to solve the problem around energy and food,” Ryan said. “I also understand people’s reservations about it being on our drinking water, but I do think there’s a certain entrepreneurial lethargy in Peekskill around how we problem-solve around these big challenges. Everybody’s got a different risk equilibrium, and if this was too high, that’s okay, fine. But it’s not enough to subtract projects. We have to come together as a community and make projects to address these challenges.”
Angell said opposition did not play a role in the decision to withdraw, saying the goal of the “community-owned” system was to provide the City of Peekskill benefits with large energy bill discounts to low-income Peekskill households and the creation of a food sovereignty fund for local food security efforts.

Asked if it was possible for the project to return in another form in the future, Fischer said there was “certainly opportunity” and they would “love to see a project get done.”
“We, like the Ecological Citizens Project, are driven by delivering community ownership and community benefit, energy savings,” Fischer said, adding that solar can be installed on buildings with big flat roofs such as warehouses but also more traditional type roof installations that are cheaper to build. “It’s something we’d all love to see, and the key is finding a site that is available that would meet the needs of building assistance.”
Both Fischer and Angell said they believe such community-owned systems are necessary and that both of their organizations are dedicated to ensuring that the control of such investments and benefits stays in the hands of communities. 
“Both of us remain committed to this core idea that who owns renewable energy assets determines who gets the benefits and whether that’s instead of larger profits for investors, deeper energy bill savings for residents or community programs, that is a movement that is playing itself out,” Angell said. “Even though this project didn’t work this time, this movement to drive the economic benefits from renewable energy back to local communities is going to continue.”

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