LINCOLN — Madison County later this year will break ground on a 2.4 megawatt solar array, hoping to “significantly reduce energy consumption and pursue renewable-energy sources for all the county’s municipal electric needs.”

The nearly $5 million, solar-photovoltaic system is the “cornerstone” of a proposed agriculture and renewable energy (ARE) business park in the town of Lincoln, just east of Chittenango. That’s according to a joint news release that Reading, Pennsylvania–based RER Energy Group and the Sunvestment Group issued about the project in late January.

Madison County expects the solar-electric system will be operating by the fall, “providing power to offset county electric use via a remote net metering program, reducing county electric bills,” according to the release.

RER develops and installs systems and often obtains third-party financing for projects, says Jim Kurtz, the company’s founder.

Madison County will be able to pay a “significantly” lower cost for its energy, says Kurtz, who also serves as president of Sunvestment Group, which is currently headquartered in Tully.

Kurtz spoke to CNYBJ by phone on March 13.

Sunvestment Group, which spun out of RER Energy in 2013, was incorporated in Tully but “is in the process” of moving to Rochester, perhaps by April, says Kurtz.

Kurtz founded RER Energy Group, which focuses on renewable-energy projects, in 2009.

A grant of about $1 million from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) facilitated the solar-array portion of the ARE business park in Lincoln, he adds. 

The grant came from Gov. Cuomo’s NY-Sun initiative, which NYSERDA administers. NY-Sun is a $1 billion initiative that the state says will advance the scale-up of solar and move New York closer to having a “sustainable, self-sufficient solar industry.”

RER’s Mike Roach is serving as the project developer for this solar array.

“He helped to determine the right size, the right location … things specific for the project,” says Kurtz.

Roach is currently focused on “community outreach” for the project and expects to start the construction phase in the next few months, he said in a March 17 email to CNYBJ. 

Roach attended Morrisville State College and graduated from its renewable-energy program, according to the RER news release. 

A former professor had suggested that RER contact Madison County, knowing that the county government was investigating solar energy, according to Kurtz.

Funding

The Sunvestment Group’s community-sourced funding platform will pay for “most” of the Madison County project’s cost, according to the news release. 

The group’s website describes it as a “service platform that allows prospective site hosts and investors to connect and create community-based power-purchase agreements.” 

To date, the Sunvestment Group has developed more than 105 projects with a cumulative production capacity of over 21 megawatts, according to its website.

The financing structure involves an anchor investor who will fund the majority of the project while allowing local, community-based businesses and accredited investors to participate in the investment opportunity, the news release said.

The community investors will receive an “attractive” return on their money, and their dollars will stay local, creating a “multiplier effect by facilitating further economic development in the county,” Sunvestment Group contends.

The group has “multiple” anchor investors who have “expressed interest in” and “are willing to fund” the project, says Kurtz. The company is currently exploring how much funding the local investors can provide for the project.

“We’re going to pick the anchor investor based in part on how much [funding] we obtain from the local community,” says Kurtz.

He declined to name any of the investors because he hadn’t requested their permission.

In addition, Madison County will incur no maintenance fees for the 25-year contract period, according to the release. 

During that timeframe, the county will obtain the solar-generated electricity at a “significantly discounted” rate compared to other options currently available in the energy market, it added.

“…the current effort to implement large-scale solar with RER Energy Group continues our commitment to alternative energy, fiscal sensibility, and forward-thinking governance,” Scott Ingmire, director of planning for Madison County, said in the news release.         

ITHACA — Tompkins County recently announced that its recycling efforts received high marks in an audit from the New York State Comptroller’s Office. 

The audit examined performance measures of the Solid Waste Management Division from Jan. 1, 2013, to July 7, 2014. It concluded that the various recycling programs the county implemented have been successful in diverting waste from the landfill, while saving the county more than $1.4 million since 2011.

“We commend county officials for implementing these programs, reducing waste, and monitoring performance to continue to improve results,” the State Comptroller’s Office said in the audit.

The audit found 43,532 tons of waste was diverted during the period examined, or the equivalent of the annual greenhouse- gas emissions of 23,539 passenger vehicles. Additionally, the county projected it averaged 3.3 pounds of waste per person per day in 2014, much lower than the state average of 4.5 pounds per person.

“The audit demonstrates how the residents and businesses of Tompkins County have supported our programs to reduce the amount of waste that is generated, while also saving a significant amount of money,” Barbara Eckstrom, manager of the county’s Solid Waste Division, said in the release. “We have successfully decreased the waste stream by nearly 60 percent,” she added.

Eckstrom cited the success of curbside recycling, the public’s use of the Recycling and Solid Waste Center, food-scraps recycling, and the household hazardous-waste management program for contributing to the county’s waste-reduction efforts.