Two Acres of Solar Panels to Power Town Buildings
A ribbon-cutting ceremony for Accabonac Solar, the first ground-based, megawatt-scale, solar electricity-generating installation on the South Fork, was held on Monday.
Upon its expected completion next month, the former brush dump site on Accabonac Road in East Hampton will house 3,456 panels, each 77 by 39 inches and comprising 72 photovoltaic cells, all of them facing due south and tilted upward at 25 degrees.
Four of the five members of the East Hampton Town Board were on hand for the ceremony, as were Kim Shaw, director of the town’s Natural Resources Department, Linda James, chairwoman of the energy sustainability advisory committee, and Gordian Raacke, executive director of Renewable Energy Long Island.
The town leased the site to AES Distributed Energy, the developers of the solar farm previously proposed by SunEdison, which later filed for bankruptcy. Multiple arrays of solar panels, following the contours of the land across two acres, will connect to the electrical grid. When the installation is operational, which is expected before year’s end, it will provide electricity equivalent to more than half the annual electricity usage at town buildings, according to a release issued by the town on Monday.
The Long Island Power Authority has made a 20-year commitment to purchase electricity from AES Distributed Energy. “We use only the finest equipment,” Jeff Gorman, AES Distributed Energy’s project and business development director, said of the 320-watt panels, several hundred of which are already in place. “Our projects are designed to have a 35-year useful life. We have a 20-year commitment from LIPA to buy the energy. After the first 20 years, we’ll be looking to keep this project up and running. Hopefully, LIPA or somebody else is here in Year 21 and beyond to continue to buy it.”
The solar farm’s capacity is approximately 1.1 megawatts, Mr. Gorman said, “but we’re going to produce 1.6 million kilowatt hours.” It will generate electricity equivalent to that used annually by 129 houses, he said.
“I’m excited to see Accabonac Solar near completion,” Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc said in the statement issued by the town. “With the first megawatt-scale solar farm on the South Fork, along with offshore wind, and offering rooftop solar to local residents, East Hampton is well on its way to meet our 100-percent renewable energy goals.”
In 2014 the town set a goal of meeting 100 percent of community-wide electricity needs with renewable energy sources by 2020, and meeting the equivalent of 100 percent of annual community-wide energy consumption in all sectors, including electricity, heating, and transportation, with renewable sources by 2030.
Should it clear permitting and regulatory hurdles, the proposed South Fork Wind Farm, a 15-turbine installation to be constructed 35 miles offshore from Montauk, could be operational late in 2022. The town’s Energize East Hampton initiative, comprising Solarize East Hampton, East Hampton Green Homes, and the South Fork Peak Savers program, provides incentives for year-round residents, second-home owners, and businesses to install solar panels and cut energy use with free energy audits and smart thermostats, as well as rebates for variable-speed swimming pool pumps.
AES Distributed Energy also operates the solar farm at the Cedar Creek Water Treatment Plant in Wantagh, and plans to develop another at Francis S. Gabreski Airport in Westhampton Beach.