Niagara County, N.Y., has scrapped a plan to cover acres of land with solar panels after it realized that potential sale of power generated by the project was too unpredictable in the face of a fluctuating energy market. It feared it might lose money on the deal.
The Buffalo News has the story:
Timm said the expense involved in connecting the output of the solar panels to the power grid was the primary cost that couldn’t be overcome.
The Legislature voted last summer to begin talks with Solar Liberty Energy Systems, an Amherst company. It had proposed to generate as much as 1.8 megawatts of electricity at each of three sites with seven acres of solar panels at each location: Landfill 2 at the county Refuse Disposal District complex on the Lockport Bypass; a field on Junction Road in Cambria; and the county Sewer District treatment plant on Liberty Drive in Wheatfield.
The county was to lease the sites to Solar Liberty, which was to cash in through state solar power incentives and federal tax credits. The county was projected to save millions on its utility bills.
With fluctuating energy prices and the expenses the county might have to cover, “There’s less likelihood for profit,” Timm said.
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