State plugs solar farmsOct 18 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Larry Rulison Times Union, Albany, N.Y.The $100 million subsidy program the state launched last summer for large solar farms has created a frenzy of renewable energy development. Companies from across the United States are winning millions of dollars through the competitively-bid program, including Constellation New Energy, a subsidiary of Chicago energy giant Excelon Corp. Constellation recently completed construction of a 9-acre, 2.7 mega-watt solar farm at the Owens Corning insulation plant on Route 32 in Feura Bush that is the largest project completed to date under the program, part of Gov. Andrew Cuomo's NY-Sun initiative to grow the solar industry in the state. Procurement records at NYSERDA, the state energy development unit, show that Constellation won $2.98 million in subsidies for the project, which is located in Bethlehem. Although neither NYSERDA nor Constellation will reveal the exact cost of the Owens Corning solar farm, which has 9,000 individual ground-mounted panels, it likely cost Constellation about $10 million to complete, based on program data provided by NYSERDA to state regulators. Constellation will see a return on the massive up-front investment through a 20-year power purchase agreement that Owens Corning signed with the company for the energy that the solar farm will produce, which will essentially equate to 6 percent of the Feura Bush factory's annual electricity needs. Since this new program was announced in August 2012, the state has awarded $100 million in subsidies for 155 solar farm projects across the state -- all of which are considered to be large-scale at more than 200 kilowatts -- about the same number of solar panels that would typically be installed on 50 home systems. The state awards the subsidies to the bidder asking for the lowest amount for each kilowatt hour, with grants capped at $3 million. Constellation isn't the only company having an impact locally. HelioSage Energy of Charlottesville, Va., which won more than $4 million in subsidies for two projects through the solar farm program, opened an office on Broadway in Albany and hired local economic development expert David Rooney in July to be its director of northeast U.S. operations. In general, the solar industry has needed government subsidies to compete with fossil fuel power plants and hydro-plants because the technology used in solar panels is not yet as efficient. However, as panels become cheaper and can convert more sunlight, the power they generate becomes cheaper. NYSERDA says that because of this, it can provide smaller and smaller subsidies to get larger developers like Constellation to build in the state. Only two years ago, the average incentive came out to $1.30 per watt, but after the most recent round of funding, the average incentive had dropped to 84 cents per watt. lrulison@timesunion.com, 518-454-5504, @larryrulison http://www.energycentral.com/functional/news/news_detail.cfm?did=30350951& |