Solar power explored for Island’s Recycling Center

The Green Options Committee has explored material and installation costs and savings in energy prices that could be achieved if solar panels were placed on the roof of the shed at the Recycling Center.

It’s one of many suggestions for the Island that came from participating in the Energy Technology Innovative Partnership Program (ETIPP). The federal Department of Energy program assists communities like Shelter Island to employ reliable clean and less expensive energy. “They highlighted this as a great place for solar,” Green Options Chairman Tim Purtell told the Town Board this month.

The Town is awaiting a report from those leading the ETIPP program, anticipating it will contain a host of potential suggestions that could benefit the Island. Valuable as the advice about solar energy at the Recycling Center is, deadlines for a program to start the process is nearing. That’s what brought members of the Green Energy Committee to the Town Board on April 14 to seek support for action.

Green Options Committee members Don D’Amato and Rob Pappas took the lead in digging deep to determine what it would take to make the proposal happen. They discovered the federal government has a program that could allow a 30% credit toward a project, but details about how that would work were scanty, Mr. Purtell said.

Mr. D’Amato and Mr. Pappas also found there are two deadlines to qualify. The first is to have construction started, shovels in the ground, by July 4. Despite that tight deadline, they have been seeking some guidance from local companies installing solar panels. If work could start the project by that date, they would have four years to complete it.

It still seems unlikely that deadline could be met since the cost — a “guestimate” at this stage, according to Mr. Purtell, could be a $175,000 that the Town doesn’t have. Nor is it likely to find a grant that could be negotiated to cover that cost.

But a second deadline is Dec. 31, 2027.

Mr. D’Amato and Mr. Pappas worked up numbers on potential costs and savings for a 50 kilowatt array of panels. Using a combination of solar panels and battery power would level out highs and lows of demand for power, reducing the charge based on demand, Mr. D’Amato said. There is a “do it yourself” system available on the internet for $127,000, but that would be without installation costs, he said.

Solar panels could be expected to save $10,000 a year, but that still doesn’t solve the need for upfront money needed for installation. Mr. Purtell estimated without grant money it would take 17.5 years to break even. Nonetheless, he said, moving to install solar panels remains a good idea.

Green Options Committee member Charity Robey said the rate structure of PSEG-LI isn’t supportive of efforts to employ solar panels. PSEG-LI has acknowledged a rate hike customers began seeing this month, but doesn’t attribute it to the presence of solar power.

Supervisor Amber Brach-Williams raised another concern that has come from firefighters — the possibility that solar panels on roofs can result in difficulties battling fires. There have been several fires at the Recycling Center she feared could have posed a problem. But Highway Superintendent and Public Works Commissioner Ken Lewis Jr. said these were mulch fires away from the area where the panels would be installed.

“I don’t see it as a concern, Mr. Lewis said.

Board members agreed it would be positive to issue a request for proposals (RFP) that could provide more information to the Town, even if the decision is reached not to proceed with solar panels at this stage.

“That’s worth pursuing,” Councilman Albert Dickson said. In the interim, the supervisor asked the Green Committee members to send the data they have compiled to Town Engineer Joe Finora.