Westover 5 Megawatt (5 MW) Solar Power Solar at 600 Main ... MW PV proposal 9-30-2014.pdf · Westover 5 Megawatt (5 MW) Solar Power Solar at 600 Main St., ... leader in deployment

300 North St. Endicott NY 13760 www.etmsolar.com

Phone: 607-785-6499 FAX: 607-786-3388 email: [email protected]

Westover 5 Megawatt (5 MW) Solar Power Solar at 600 Main St., Johnson City, NY (updated 9-30-2014) We propose to install a 5 MW solar power plant at 600 Main St. (the former BAE site) in Johnson City.

The solar resource The amount of solar energy falling on the landmasses of Earth is very large. Each year around 201,480 TRILLION KILOWATT-HOURS of solar energy rains down upon us...for free. The world leader in deployment of solar power plants is Germany. Ironically, the sunniest place in Germany has a poorer solar resource than the cloudiest place in the continental US. The sunniest place in Germany gets about 1250 kWh/yr, while Binghamton gets 1496 kWh/yr. (Seattle gets 1350). New York State could get 100% of its electricity by installing an area of solar cells (photovoltaics or PV) equal to less than 1% of the state's area (about 1/3 of existing roofs and parking lots).

So the first message here is don't underestimate the power of the sun! Converting the majority of our energy production to solar is completely feasible and perhaps inevitable. Since the resource is boundless (well, OK, at least 5 billion more years), the opportunity for growth is phenomenal. This is in contrast to fossil fuel extraction, which booms for a while and then is tapped out, leaving the boom-towns to wither and die. Make Greater Binghamton the Up-and-Coming Place to Be. The Air Force owns the site and has said they would remove the damaged buildings and clean the site. They have finally contracted to get this done! So the time is perfect to begin serious planning for the site. Think of this: If we were so "with-it" that we had a 5 MW solar array next to where there used to be a coal-fired power plant (Goudy station), then, Wow!, Greater Binghamton would be the place to be! You want BU and SUNY Broome graduates to stay in the area? Let’s make the area appealing to them with jobs in up and coming industries, like solar.

Solar Industry update Several other countries and states have already begun to make solar a fast-growing part of their energy mix. Germany has around 35000 MW installed. Meanwhile, the US has about 15000 MW installed with NY at 247 MW. California is the leader in US solar with 5660 MW. NJ has 1211 MW and Arizona has 1822 MW. Nevada has just awakened to the fact that they are to solar energy resource as Saudi Arabia is to oil! Large solar power plants are being built there now. The solar industry in the US has experienced 30% growth from 2012 to 2013. In 2011, the cost of solar cells fell off the cost cliff, going

from $2/W to $1/W in just over a year. This was due to strong demand in Europe and Chinese production ramp-up to meet it. Ultimately, there was oversupply, which further depressed the price. There has been some fallout from this. Around 50% of the Chinese factories closed and European



demand has fallen off. But something new is happening to take up the slack. The price of PV is now low enough to stimulate much more demand for it the USA. Even though many factories closed, the remaining stronger players are opening up factories in the US to feed demand here. And then another thing happened: China set a goal to install 21000 MW by 2015, compared to the US installed capacity which is presently around 15,000 MW. About new technology So here we are on the cusp of the massive expansion of use of solar energy. We have the resource, we have the know-how, and the price point has come way down. We also have another very valuable element right here in Binghamton: innovation. Greater Binghamton should be renamed Innovation, NY. It is the birthplace of the flight simulator and the modern computer. The inventor of the lithium-ion battery is a professor at Binghamton University. And now, new kinds of solar cells are being invented at the Center for Autonomous Solar Power (CASP). It's time to make Greater Binghamton the new hub of solar power innovation and deployment. About the site BAE has vacated the plant, which was severely damaged by the 2011 flood. The site is 27 acres in size and currently owned by the US Air Force. Plans are in the works to demolish the plant, which was deemed unsalvageable after the flood. The site is large enough to support a 5 MW utility-scale solar power plant. The site is adjacent to the, now dormant, Goudy station fossil fuel fired power plant. There is existing infrastructure at Goudy for interconnecting a large photovoltaic (PV) system. In workshop after workshop on how to deal with flooding, engineers have admonished us to maintain floodplains so that water has a place to go! This means you don’t “bring in fill” and build malls, housing, or schools. If the floodplain is used at all, structures that must be able to let the flood waters come in without damaging the structure. Solar arrays are perfect for this. They are normally built on post-and-beam structures. The proposed solar power plant would be built in such a way that future flood waters would not damage it. Thus, the site would be re-purposed to generate green power while being resistant to damage by flooding.

Cost and financing One of the common complaints about solar power is that it is expensive. This is primarily because we have not deployed it on a large scale. Most PV systems in NY are very small (10 kW and less). Of course, ANY type of power system done on a small scale is expensive. A 10 KW system is still about $3.75/W, while a 5 MW system is $2.15/Watt (5 MW = 5 million Watts, so the cost is 5,000,000 x $2.15 = $10.75 M). And just to keep things in perspective, the recently approved nuclear power plant in Georgia is $7/Watt (at 2000 MW, that’s $14 BILLION) and it still needs fuel!



Another cost effect is mass production. Most solar cells are made from Silicon, the second most common element in the Earth's crust. As production increases, costs go down. In fact each time production is doubled the cost of solar cells decreases 20%. In 2011, PV prices tumbled to under $1/W on the wholesale market. So the next challenge for the industry is to reduce mounting system costs and installation costs. This is happening now. Schletter solar racking has cut the costs in half on ground-mount racks, just in the last 2 years. But perhaps the most exciting development is the advent of solar finance, which means end-users can go solar for no up-front cost!

The Community PPA The easiest way for customers to take advantage of solar power from a large plant, is to enter into a power purchase agreement (PPA). In this scenario, the system is owned by a for-profit entity (the Westover Solar LLC). ETM and our financial partner, SunVestment Group, set this up. The beauty of this is that there is no upfront cost to the end-users. They pay only for kilowatt-hours. We are working a new and interesting model, called the Community PPA. In this model, the Westover Solar LLC is made of local investors. The investors could be local businesses, who need tax credits. And YES, they would really make a substantial return on their investment over the term of the PPA (which is usually 20 years). This means that the project not only creates local jobs on the installing and maintaining side, but local money stays local. And speaking of maintenance, the owner (Westover Solar LLC) does all that and it is included in the

kWh rate to the end user. Oh, the icing on the cake: The kWh rate offered to the end users will be less than they are paying now and set for 20 years! Incentives to defray system cost NYSERDA will be offering grant funds via the NY-SUN program for large solar energy systems in 2015. The Federal tax credit defrays the system cost by 30%, but this ends in 2016, so we best get going on this. Third-party ownership (by for-profit entities) enables use of the tax credit and they get accelerated depreciation also. The grants and tax benefits cut the system cost to about 25% of the before-incentive-cost. We need to jump on this opportunity ASAP! Our region has been economically depressed for years, and yet we are sitting on a potential hub for the



solar industry right here in Binghamton. This project would not only generate electricity, but also hope. There are new and lucrative industries growing in our own backyard. And yes we have more than enough land and sun to nurture the solar industry here. Green jobs There is a lot of talk about this, but in order to create jobs, we have to install systems. It is the installation part that is inherently local and cannot be out-sourced. This project would be a very visible expression of what solar can do here in the Binghamton area. It would prime us for the coming of wide spread use of solar energy. Industry experts see the boom starting this year due to the now low cost of PV (and you thought that was still years in the future!) Widespread deployment of solar power has a much larger potential for positive economic impacts than natural gas EVER will! This is owing to the fact that the YEARLY solar resource is over 100 times the FOREVER supply of natural gas. Solar electric systems make no noise, no stink and no water pollution. You can be certain that free solar energy will pour down on your solar panels for billions of years to come. Photovoltaic (PV) modules are made of benign, recyclable materials and will generate power for several decades. By the time today's PV needs to be replaced, new PV will be 10 or 20 times cheaper. [Solar industry job growth is a pleasing reality! You want job data? Visit www.seia.org for the numbers.] Involve Young People We could have local students from SUNY Broome and BU renewable energy classes be involved in the design and installation of this project. There is nothing like some practical experience to give students better insight into where the industry is headed and what real world problems will need their brainpower. Some Project To do’s Conceptual design (done) Detailed layout Cost estimate (started) Obtain PPA provider (done) Business planning: Set up Westover Solar LLC Removal of existing buildings (started) Detailed Electrical and Mechanical design Sales and marketing (getting end-users signed up) Prepare site Set up agreement with Air Force for site use (or lease or purchase) Engineering for grid connection Student involvement plan Negotiate best pricing with hardware suppliers Interconnection plan and agreement with utility More…



5 MW job Creation How many jobs would a 5 MW solar power plant create?

Doing this project will lead to a number of direct jobs. Here's an estimate.

task number of people Design 4 engineers Procurement 2 clerical Interconnection 2 engineers Build 20 trades men and women Operate 6 This is only part of the big picture, though. This project will help put Binghamton, NY on the map as a center for solar industry. Where one solar power plant is built, more will be soon to follow. We would be able to claim local expertise, drawing more business to us here. Since we also have Binghamton U doing research, I can see this leading to not only more use of solar here, but as that use grows, our area will become attractive to manufacturers of solar equipment. We don't have to guess about this, since it has happened in other places as use of solar increased (Germany, New Jersey, California, Colorado, Arizona) and um, Buffalo! There are also related businesses that will grow. We obtain electrical supplies (wire, conduit, switchgear) from local electrical supply houses (Friedman, Gexpro and AAI). Friedman has already branched out into supplying solar panels and inverters. Gexpro has just jumped into the game of supplying solar equipment. We have custom solar racks built by a Metal Fab, a local company for many of our projects. We purchase sensor wire, cat-5 wire, Internet routers and other communications gear from Unicorn Electronics in Johnson City. So as the solar industry grows, these local suppliers and manufacturers are also going to grow and with them, comes more jobs. Proposed by Gay Canough, ETM Solar Works 300 North St. Endicott, NY 13760

Documents

Westover 5 Megawatt (5 MW) Solar Power Solar at 600 Main ... MW PV proposal 9-30-2014.pdf · Westover 5 Megawatt (5 MW) Solar Power Solar at 600 Main St., ... leader in deployment