“Schenectady County Legislature Chairman Anthony Jasenski today announced that Schenectady County has saved over $200,000 through its solar program producing 1,752,852 kWh of electricity while avoiding over 1,000 tons of CO2 emissions as of January 31, 2017.
“This program continues Schenectady County’s efforts to be a leader in renewable energy and environmental conservation,” said Anthony Jasenski, Chairman of the County Legislature. “We have saved more than $200,000 in electrical costs and avoided producing 1,000 tons of CO2 emissions each year, making county government more environmentally efficient and friendly and saving taxpayers money.”
The Schenectady County Solar Program began in 2013 with the placement of solar panel arrays on County owned building through a partnership with Monolith Solar. Schenectady County receives a 30 percent discount through Monolith on all electricity produced by the solar panels. The program has expanded to include additional facilities including a solar farm located at the Schenectady County Resident Recycling and Composting Facility on Hetcheltown Road in Glenville.
The existing projects produce over 1.0 mW of electricity each year, more than 10 percent of the County’s current usage (see chart below). The goal is to build out to be fully solar-powered, reducing total annual consumption by 50 percent to about 5mW of electricity, saving $650,000 annually for County government.
“Our Phase I solar accomplishments are impressive, but we know we can do more,” said Chairman Jasenski. “In October this County Legislature adopted ambitious solar production and energy conservation goals of 100 percent energy independence by December 31, 2020. We will continue to take every opportunity to achieve this goal””
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Schenectady County 3 March 2017.