Highway garage panels funded with grants

Beacon officials cut the ribbon on Friday (May 8) on a solar array atop the city’s Highway Department garage on Camp Beacon Road funded entirely with state grants.

The panels, which should produce at least 112,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity annually, cost $289,000. They were funded with $140,000 in Clean Energy Communities grants from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, $125,000 secured by state Assembly Member Jonathan Jacobson and $24,000 in state renewable-energy incentives.

A solar farm already in place at the former city landfill near Dennings Point produces about 70 percent of the electricity for municipal operations. The array at the garage will generate about 80 percent of the building’s electricity and bring overall production to 75 percent of municipal needs, Mayor Lee Kyriacou said.

“Beacon is always doing these things to put rhetoric into reality,” said Jacobson, a Democrat whose district includes Beacon. “Everybody talks about renewables and alternative energy, and we’re doing it.”

The conditions Friday morning — sunny but cool — were ideal at the south-facing garage roof, said David Byrne, founder and president of Renua Energy, the Clifton Park company that installed the panels. “That’s when you get maximum output,” he said.

Beacon is eligible for Clean Energy Communities grants because of its participation in the state’s Climate Smart Communities program, where it has earned “silver” status. The city has received nearly $900,000 in Clean Energy grants for sustainability projects.

Type: News

News: Based on facts, either observed and verified directly by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.