Township Moves Ahead with Plans for Multiple Solar Panel Projects

The muncipality is juggling three proposals for installing solar panels on township-owned property, including a land-lease deal expected to bring in about $470,000 for allowing a private vendor to install panels atop the closed Pill Hill landfill.

The contractor, Syncarpha EFGI, LLC of New York, would be responsible for obtaining all necessary permits and for within 18 months beginning construction at the former local landfill off Pill Hill Road, said Bernards Township Administrator Bruce McArthur. The Township Committee approved the contract last Tuesday night.

The township received two bids for the project, although one bidder eventually withdrew, McArthur said. The township had not received any bids the first two times the project was advertised in the last year or so, he said.

At the same time, Township Committee members agreed they will go along with a Somersey County-sponsored plan to install solar panels on the roof of the engineering and department of public works building at 277 S. Maple Ave.

But Township Committee members last Tuesday agreed the township will decline to participate in the county's proposed solar projects at other township sites, including the on South Finley Avenue, the municipal and police complex on Collyer Lane, Pleasant Valley Park and Pool off Valley Road and the township's Mountain Park, at Mountain and Liberty Corner Roads.

Those projects were considered to be in an inconvenient ground or neighborhood location, McArthur said on Monday. A proposed solar installation at the municipal and police complex also would have required 25 trees to be cut down, he said.

The whether to allow Somerset County to place panels at proposed locations on school property, including land at Mt. Prospect School, the roof at Ridge High School and a parking canopy that would be constructed at William Annin Middle School. School officials said last week they would further discuss that proposal as well as another suggestion that the district might be able to obtain financial assistance with new roofs in exchange for allowing panels to be placed on those roofs.

County representatives told the school board that Somerset County already has received approval to move ahead with funding the panel installations at up to 35 locations within the county. The county would take on the debt for the project, according to the discussion before the school board.

The county project is designed to lower power costs for the municipalities or school districts that allow the panel installations. The county wants a final commitment from participants in the project by May.

McArthur said township officials wanted to provide a swift answer for the county.

Meanwhile, the township has two other solar projects even further along than the county proposal. The contract with Syncarpha approved last week gives the solar vendor the right to install the panels at the landfill property for 15 years, McArthur said.

After that time, the arrangement can be extended, the company can remove the panels or the township could get a chance at purchasing the panels for what is considered fair market value, McArthur said.  

The landfill's recycling operation would not be moved to accommodate the solar panels, he said.

McArthur said the usual arrangement is for the solar panel vendor to feed power from the panels into a building or other electric user to lower costs for that customer. However, he said Syncarpha will have to connect the panels at Pill Hill into a power grid, a necessary step that lowered the amount the township will receive for the lease.

However, the anticipated $470,000 can be allocated within the township budget outside of the state's new 2-percent cap on tax levy increases, McArthur said. One use might be to help keep down municipal tax increases in coming years, he said.

Meanwhile, the Bernards Township Sewerage Authority — in a project being sponsored wholly by the sewerage authority to reduce electric costs for its treatment facility — is wrapping up a solar installation at the facility off Martinsville Road.

The project hopefully will be completed and go online by June, Township Engineer Tom Timko said on Monday.