Solar Project Tow n of Ulysses Public Hearing and Planning Board - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Solar Project

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Tow n of Ulysses Public Hearing and Planning Board Meeting – 1/19/16

Presentation Overview

1

• Solar 101: Common Questions
• Practicality, economics, benefits
• Solar panels
• Neighbors, property values, green space
• The Sciencenter Project
• Project highlights
• Other important details

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Solar 101: Common Questions

Q: Does solar work well in New York state? A: Solar works very well in New York. Even though we typically have a

cloudy winter, we still have over 2/3rds of the solar resource annually of Southern California and the Southwest. In addition, snow is not a major issue as it arrives at the lowest solar resource time of year.

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Q: Does solar make sense for families, farms, businesses, and other organizations? A: Solar is currently making both economic and practical sense for

most entities – homeowners, farms, businesses, and even renters. Most solar projects have excellent economic metrics with paybacks of less than 6 years, or if financed, they offer immediate cost savings from Day 1. Such economics have resulted in part from dramatic cost reductions as the industry scaled from 2009 to 2014. The price of solar modules, for example, was reduced by 70% during this time.

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Q: What other benefits does solar have? A: Solar is typically a win-win for customers and communities. The

benefits of solar include reliable home-grown clean American energy, economic savings for the user of the electricity, and economic benefits for the region including local well-paying jobs. Renovus alone has added over 60 jobs in the last year and a half, and employs many veterans and former gas workers.

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Q: What are solar panels made of, and do they pose any danger to the land, water, or surrounding properties?

A: The solar panels proposed to be used for this project and for 95% of

projects across the US are silicon-based. These panels are made from one of earth’s most common and inert materials – sand. This sand is refined into silicon cells which are laid out as sheets, and then copper conductors and aluminum frames are added. Thus, solar panels contain common materials, and do not have toxic elements that pose any safety or health risk.

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Q: What kind of neighbor is a solar project? A: Solar projects are quiet and safe neighbors that you will often not even

know are there. They (a) produce no pollution, (b) generate no traffic, (c) minimally affect the land they are located on (keeping over 95% of the space as natural vegetation), and (d) make almost no noise (they produce around 20 dB at most at 100’ ignoring vegetative or other dampening, and are quieter than a library whisper).

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Q: How will a solar facility affect the green space in our Town?

A: While the number of solar facilities is growing rapidly, they have

not significantly affected the amount of agricultural land or green- space in towns. Solar facilities are typically not targeted for prime agricultural lands, and are not sited in conservation, park, or lakefront areas. Solar facilities are also limited to certain areas in every town that have suitable interconnection potential.

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Q: How will a solar project affect my property value? A: Typically solar projects are expected to increase the value of the

property they are located on because they provide energy and cost savings to purchaser of the electricity. Because of their minimal impact, there is no evidence in New York that solar facilities of this scale negatively effect neighboring property values.

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Sciencenter Project Overview

Project Highlights

Scale & Use

• Small/medium-scale solar facility near the intersection of Jacksonville Rd and Agard Rd
• Will be owned by New Energy Equity (a tax paying for-profit company)
• Built to serve the Sciencenter – a non-profit customer that operates a nationally recognized

hands-on science museum in Ithaca, accredited by the American Alliance of Museums (AAM). Its mission is to inspire excitement for science through interactive exhibits and programs that engage, educate, and empower.

• 360 kWdc of solar consisting of around 1,200 solar panels over 1.8 acres, with the solar

covering less than 25% of the area

• Will offset 100% of the Sciencenter’s electric costs (equivalent to serving over 50 homes) and

save them 15-20% per year

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Project Highlights

Location & Visibility

• Location is a former agricultural field
• Project is not in flood plain nor historic area, and is set back from the freshwater stream and

small wetland in the area

• Project is well set back from the property lines of the parcel on which it would be located Site

has limited visibility from neighbors or roads

• All neighbors homes are 125-1000’ from the closest corner of the proposed solar

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Other Important Details

Project Layout and Construction

• Attachments to ground are driven steel piles and no concrete will be used
• No roads or impervious surfaces will be added, except for a short driveway from Jacksonville Rd
• Project will have 20 ft. spacing between rows of panels, and those rows are 10 feet deep and 10 feet

high

• Areas between the solar rows and covered by the solar are left as natural native vegetation
• Facility will have no lighting, and will have a metal chain link fence for safety with identification

signage

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Glare

• Ground-level glare from solar facilities can only occur at dawn or dusk, and is not generally

found to be a concern when compared to other materials common in the natural and built

• environments. For example, at those same times:
• The smooth surface of a pond will reflect roughly the same amount of sunlight as a solar panel
• A freshly covered field of snow will reflect more than twice as much light
• A steel surface would reflect more than four times as much light
• To ensure that no neighbors or roadways would be negatively impacted, Renovus conducted a

detailed assessment of the site using the Solar Glare Hazard Analysis Tool developed by Sandia National Laboratory. This analysis showed no neighboring sites exposed to any significant glare.

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Storm Water

• Solar installations of this scale typically do not cause any storm water

management issues. The area under and between the panels preserves the sites pervious ground cover.

• NYDEC has taken a position that PV array system themselves are not

considered impervious surfaces that require a storm water management plan.

• Because we will not be constructing an impervious service, the hydrology of the

site will not change. This project only requires a SWPP for some minimal clearing and then standard erosion and sediment control practices during construction.

R E N O V U S . S O L A R Video: Vector Solar Site

Decommissioning

• The proposed solar project is comprised of several levels of contracts

and financial incentives that are in place to ensure performance during the operational life, and full decommissioning at the end of this period.

• The land lease requires decommissioning of the project in 180 days from

cession of operation. This is a legally enforceable contract and there are penalties apply to the owner if there are any delays.

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Questions?

Melissa Kemp

Director of Commercial/Utility Solar Development mkemp@renovussolar.com

Thom Mayo

Project Manager, Commercial/Utility Solar, tmayo@renovussolar.com

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