SPENCER — Eight solar farms now under construction in Spencer in Tioga County represent the launch of “one of the largest solar projects in the Southern Tier.” 

The farms, which crews are building on three properties owned by the Pasto family, will generate enough electricity to power more than 1,700 homes. 

Members of the farms “can enjoy savings from solar electricity without having to install rooftop panels,” Albany–based Solomon Community Solar LLC said in a Nov. 27 news release. Solomon Community Solar does business as Solar Farms New York. 

“Our customers like the flexibility of joining a solar farm without installing expensive and sometimes unsightly rooftop panels,” Jeffrey Mayer, CEO of Solar Farms New York, said in the release. “Unlike the 20-year commitment required for solar panels, our customers can cancel any time without penalty.”

Officials held a Dec. 1 groundbreaking at 350 Van Etten Road, one of the properties where solar panels are under construction.

Mayer wasn’t able to provide specific construction costs for the project in an email response to a CNYBJ inquiry. But he did say that “solar farms are being built in a range of about $1.25 [million] to $2.5 million per megawatt, depending on panel prices, location, timing.”

Edison, New Jersey–based Conti Solar is the project manager with “numerous sub-contractors, many of them local upstate businesses,” per Mayer. He expects crews to finish construction this winter. 

About Solar Farms New York

Solar Farms New York is the company that is marketing the solar electricity to customers who live and work in the Southern Tier. It markets electricity from more than 30 solar farms in upstate New York. 

All of the solar production is currently sold to one utility, New York State Electric and Gas (NYSEG). The firm expects the construction of additional farms to meet demand from customers in territories of National Grid (NYSE: NGG) and Consolidated Edison (NYSE: ED). 

Solar Farms New York’s sister company, called Solar Farms Massachusetts, markets electricity to customers in eastern Massachusetts. 

Pursuing goal

New York State has made solar farms a priority in meeting its 50 percent renewable-energy goal by 2030. 

“We are excited to have our family farms play such an important part in meeting New York State’s goal to produce 50 percent of its electricity from renewable energy by 2030,” Cris Pasto, one of the farm’s owners, said. “After generations of growing different crops, we are looking forward to harvesting New York sunshine.”

Crews are installing more than 74,000 solar panels on the Pasto farms, according to Mayer.

Area homeowners have already signed up under the community-solar program that’s sponsored by both New York State and NYSEG. 

“Over 400 NYSEG customers have signed up for the Pasto farms which are the first we are building and filling on the Southern Tier,” Mayer says.

The Pasto farms are among 32 solar farms throughout the state which will begin to supply solar electricity to NYSEG in 2019.

“We anticipate allocating all of our solar-electricity production over the next few months, after which we will start putting customers on our waiting list,” Mayer says. 

Solar program

Under New York’s community-solar program, the farms sell their electricity to NYSEG, which will in turn put credits on customer bills, Solar Farms New York said. Customers will then pay Solar Farms New York for their electricity.

The company will bill customers 95 percent of the value of the credits they receive from NYSEG, resulting in a 5 percent savings on their solar credits.

“We are not an ESCO [energy-service company] and this contract is not an electricity supply contract,” Mayer tells CNYBJ. “Many ESCO contracts have been criticized as ‘bait and switch’ contracts that offer short-term savings at best. Customers are guaranteed 5 percent savings on NYSEG credits which are based on NYSEG prices: If NYSEG prices go up, savings will increase. Moreover, customers may cancel any time without penalty.”

Community solar farms are “rapidly expanding” around the country, supported by utilities which have an “easier time” incorporating solar electricity into their grid when it is produced at a single location instead of hundreds of rooftops. Customers also benefit by avoiding high upfront costs, maintenance, and potential roof damage, Solar Farms New York contends.

Mayer points out that solar farms can offset up to 100 percent of usage, “unlike rooftop panels, which help offset 30-50 percent of a household’s electricity usage.” 

“For homeowners that want to save money and make a material dent in fossil fuel emissions, community solar is a convenient and easy alternative,” he contends.       

The New York State Energy and Research Development Authority (NYSERDA) recently announced it has made available $1 million to large real-estate portfolio owners for support with developing energy performance standards and institutional mechanisms to enable the design, construction, and operation of net-zero buildings across their statewide portfolios.

Net-zero energy buildings consume no more energy, on an annual basis, than they produce onsite through renewable-energy technologies. The announcement supports Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s goal to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions in New York by 40 percent by 2030.

Those eligible for the funding include real-estate developers, colleges and universities, retailers, public-sector agencies, and other private, public, or nonprofit entities.

“As we move toward achieving Governor Cuomo’s energy goals, encouraging large private, public and non-profit entities to pursue net zero energy performance early in the design process is critically important to reducing greenhouse gas emissions from our building stock,” Alicia Barton, president and CEO of NYSERDA said in a release. “Lowering harmful emissions through net zero energy performance buildings results in cleaner communities and helps protect the environment – a win-win for all.”

This Net Zero Energy pilot program is part of NYSERDA’s approach to support the design and construction industry as it moves to net-zero energy and net-zero carbon construction, renovation, and operations. Designed to help developers embrace net-zero initiatives, the program will help support advanced high-performance building-development methods and technologies while creating a “group of leading institutions that publicly commit to adopting these cutting-edge practices,” the authority said. To spur net-zero energy performance across the state, NYSERDA, on a first-come first-served basis, will provide each approved applicant with a maximum amount of $250,000 toward technical guidance to be provided by a consultant with expertise in net-zero building design and construction. Approved applicants will also receive help with identifying other NYSERDA programs that can offer additional financial and technical assistance for the construction projects themselves. “Those businesses and institutions awarded funding will serve as an example for others to follow by demonstrating the technical feasibility and cost-effectiveness of net zero buildings,” according to the release.

Funding for this program is part of the state’s 10-year, $5.3 billion Clean Energy Fund. More information about this funding is available on NYSERDA’s website (www.nyserda.ny.gov). 

FORT DRUM — Its developer says crews built the new Candlewood Suites hotel at Fort Drum using cross-laminated timber (CLT).

Lendlease — a firm that specializes in project management, construction, real-estate investment and development — says the new hotel incorporates CLT for the hotel’s floors, roof, exterior walls, shaft walls and select interior walls. Made of several layers of pressed lumber board stacked in alternating directions, CLT “offers builders maximized strength and durability with added sustainability and conservation benefits,” per a news release on the Lendlease website.

CLT “is projected to achieve significant energy savings when compared to typical hotel buildings of the same size for the same climate,” as described in a previous company release about the groundbreaking.

The more than 65,000-square-foot structure includes 99 all-suite rooms. The 13-person Lendlease crew utilized more than 1,700 pieces of mass timber and 200,000 pieces of hardware to construct the building. Eight of the crew members who worked on the Fort Drum project were local veterans referred to the project through Fort Drum’s Soldiers for Life program, Lendlease said.

“Lendlease embraces and prioritizes innovation and utilizing CLT allows us to execute on our vision to create the best places while providing a sustainable outcome for our Army partner,” Claire Johnston, managing director of Lendlease’s Communities business, said in the release. “The use of CLT and other integrated methodologies has made it possible to ‘do more with less’ by constructing projects faster, with less labor and safer than conventional materials and methods.”

Part of the Privatization of Army Lodging (PAL) program, Lendlease is the owner, developer, design-builder and asset manager for the Candlewood Suites on Fort Drum, and the “exclusive developer” for the U.S. Department of Defense’s only lodging privatization program. 

Lendlease wasn’t able to share the project cost, Lacey Purcell Jamison, an assistant marketing manager with Lendlease, said in an email response to a CNYBJ inquiry.

Lendlease is based in Sydney, Australia with U.S. headquarters in New York City, according to its website. Lendlease employs about 13,000 people worldwide.

“The Candlewood Suites on Fort Drum is an excellent addition to the IHG Army Hotels portfolio and another great example of the success of privatization. We are very proud to support Fort Drum’s mission and deliver IHG’s signature hospitality and amenities to travelers with the Department of Defense,” Chuck Sourbeer, head of operations, IHG Army Hotels, said.

IHG — short for InterContinental Hotels Group — is the hotel operator and manager of IHG Army Hotels, which are located on 40 U.S. Army installations. IHG is headquartered in the United Kingdom and has a U.S. office in Atlanta, Georgia, its website says.

The New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) recently announced funding of nearly $300,000 for the Eastern Finger Lakes Cover Crop Initiative. 

The program, which is being funded through the state’s Environmental Protection Fund, will help farmers use cover crops to reduce erosion and protect water quality in and around Cayuga, Owasco, Skaneateles, and Otisco Lakes. New York State Soil and Water Conservation Districts will work with farms in Seneca, Tompkins, Cayuga, Onondaga, and Cortland counties to implement cover-crop projects, according to a news release from the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets and the DEC. 

“This project assists our farmers in the eastern Finger Lakes area who are committed to environmental stewardship of the land and to protecting our valuable resources. Cover crops are an excellent way to protect the watershed and benefit farmers by enriching and improving the soil,” Agriculture and Markets Commissioner Richard A. Ball said in the release. “We are pleased to be working in partnership with the DEC and our Soil and Water Conservation Districts, who will provide the technical assistance to landowners on this initiative.”

This year, $285,000 will be used to promote the use of cover crops in the eastern Finger Lakes, including $180,000 to help farmers plant the crops and $105,000 to help offset the costs of specialized equipment used for planting, the release stated. 

Common cover crops in New York state include rye, oats, wheat, radishes, peas, clover, and sunflowers. The crops, which are typically planted in late fall following the harvest of traditional plantings, improve soil health for the spring, the state says. Cover crops also help reduce erosion and runoff, absorb excess nutrients, filter surface water and ground water, add organic matter to soil, reduce weeds, combat pests, and sequester carbon-dioxide emissions in the soil.

Soil and Water Conservation Districts from Seneca, Tompkins, Cayuga, Onondaga, and Cortland counties will use the state’s Agricultural Environmental Management (AEM) framework to plan, implement, and evaluate projects. Funding will be made available to farms to incorporate cover cropping into their annual cash-crop planting systems. 

Farmers who are interested in learning more about cover-crop implementation can contact a local county Soil and Water Conservation District at https://www.nys-soilandwater.org/contacts/county_offices.html.

The initiative began in January 2018, and 541 acres of cover crops have been planted so far. The crops are marked with new signs designating them a part of the Eastern Finger Lakes Cover Crop Initiative.

State Department of Health Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker said, “We all have a responsibility to do our part to protect water quality for the benefit of public health. Our agricultural partners are on the frontlines of land stewardship and safeguarding our natural resources that impact the water we receive at the tap. We encourage farmers in the Finger Lakes region to take advantage of the Cover Crop Initiative to aid New York’s drinking water quality efforts and enhance their overall operations.” 

The Eastern Finger Lakes Cover Crop Initiative builds on the state’s efforts to safeguard natural resources, the release said. The state has been working with Soil and Water Conservation Districts as well as Cornell Cooperative Extension to build and expand “farmer-led soil health coalitions” and promote policy changes to improve the health of the state’s land and water. 

The State’s Agricultural Nonpoint Source and Abatement Control Grant Program and its Climate Resilient Farming Program also promote the use of cover crops on farms. Since 2010, these programs have funded
$3.3 million for 268 landowners who contributed $1.7 million in cost-sharing funds for cover crops across more than 36,000 acres of New York state farmland, per the release.       

DeWITT — Scherzi Photography recently sold the property at 5818 East Molloy Road in the town of DeWitt to James Piao.

Lee Salvetti of Cushman & Wakefield/Pyramid Brokerage Company represented the buyer and JWP Commercial represented the seller in this sale transaction, according to a Cushman & Wakefield/Pyramid Brokerage news release.

The transaction closed on Sept. 12 at a price of $400,000, according to Onondaga County online property records. It’s a 0.85 acre property with a 9,600-square-foot building, and the new owner is listed as ICT-Foundation For Rapid Production, LLC. The property, located in the East Syracuse–Minoa School District, is assessed at $398,200 for 2018.