County working towards 4-acre solar array near EMO on County House Road

ALBION – Orleans County is working to develop a 4-acre solar array on the south end of the Emergency Management Office property at 14074 West County House Rd.

The project would have a capacity for 500 kilowatts of power. It would be sold to National Grid.

The county is pushing for the project partly to maintain its good credit rating. That overall rating not only factors in financial data, but municipalities lose some standing if they don’t have a renewable energy project in their portfolio, said Jack Welch, the county’s chief administrative officer.

The county has been discussing the solar project for about two years, Welch said. The County Legislature has hired Wendel, LLC to apply for a utility interconnection with National Grid. The county also is working with GreenSpark, which is designing the solar farm and will do the construction.

The Legislature during last month’s meeting approved executing the documents for the interconnection and other permit application forms.

Legislator Don Allport, R-Gaines, opposed moving forward with the project, calling solar “dirty and inefficient power.” He said the nation is better served with a steady-producing power, not the “modulating and demodulating” power sources with solar and wind energy.

The project is part of a $1.3 million energy performance contract. Allport said the projected return on the solar investment was initially 15 years, but now could be 20 years.