By Barbara Pinckney<\/p>\n
A Florida company whose area business
\nis directed by a Saratoga Springs man, is
\nmoving forward with plans to build a solar
\nfarm to serve the town of Lake George, even
\nas it waits to hear if it will also be doing
\nbusiness with the village of Lake George.<\/p>\n
Fort Lauderdale-based Overseas Lease
\nGroup has entered into a 20-year contract
\nto provide solar energy to the town. Michael
\nDoud of Saratoga Springs is director of
\nbusiness development for Overseas. He said
\nthe expectation is that a 672,000 kilowatt
\nsolar panel system will be installed in the
\ncoming months.<\/p>\n
Overseas is owned by George Badcock,
\nwho also owns Hacker Boat Co. of
\nQueensbury.
\n“Unfortunately solar takes a while,” he
\nsaid. “You have a lot of people involved. You
\nneed building permit approval, real estate
\napproval, facilities approval–but our
\nhope would be we would have the system
\ninstalled by the end of the year.”
\nWhile Overseas would develop and finance
\nthe project, Apex Solar of Glens Falls
\nwould do the construction.<\/p>\n
The precise site of the farm is not yet
\nknown. Doud said Overseas is looking at a
\nfew sites within National Grid’s territory,
\nincluding Washington County. It needs
\nabout three acres.<\/p>\n
Overseas had originally talked about
\nbuilding a 2.2 megawatt solar farm on about
\n12 acres, to serve both the town and village
\nof Lake George. That farm, which had an
\nestimated construction cost of about $6
\nmillion, remains a possibility.<\/p>\n
“The town of Lake George just signed a
\ncontract with our company, but the village
\nhas reversed their decision to sign their
\ncontract, on the advice of their lawyer, and I
\nbelieve they are going to put it out to public
\nbid,” Doud said. “So we are on hold with the
\nvillage until we hopefully win the contract, but we won’t know until that happens.”<\/p>\n
But even if Overseas Lease wins the contract
\nwith the village, it may not be able to
\nbuild a system to serve both the town and
\nthe village at the same site. Doud said that
\nwhile that would be the ideal scenario, the
\ntiming will determine whether it can be
\ndone. If not, a second farm would be built.<\/p>\n
Overseas also will be bidding on solar
\ncontracts to serve Fort Edward and Bolton.
\nDoud said that while most New York municipalities
\ndo not put their utility power
\nout to bid, “solar seems to get a little more
\nscrutiny.”<\/p>\n
Regardless of what happens with the
\nthree other communities, Overseas will be
\nbuilding a solar farm to serve the town of
\nLake George. The project will be of no cost to
\nthe town, but should reduce its electric bills.
\n“Typically it is a substantial savings–between
\n15 [percent] and 20 percent in year
\none and those savings will grow over time
\nas utility prices also increase,” Doud said.
\n“Town residents will feel less pressure from
\ntaxes when the town starts saving money
\non utilities.”<\/p>\n
The technology is relatively simple. The
\nsolar panels collect about 92 percent of the
\nsunlight they receive and reflect the rest.
\nThe cells contained in the panels convert
\nthat sunlight to DC electricity, the type
\nfound in fuel cells and car batteries. It
\nthen flows through to an inverter–which
\nchanges it to AC power–through a series
\nof meters and into the utility grid to be
\ndelivered to the town. The remote metering
\nmeans the farm does not have to be located
\nnear Lake George.<\/p>\n
Overseas Lease, which Badcock formed in
\n2003, leases vehicles, specialty equipment
\nand shelters to government entities and
\nbusinesses all over the world. Doud said
\nthe company recently expanded into solar
\nenergy as part of its decision to enter other
\ngrowing markets.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Barbara Pinckney A Florida company whose area business is directed by a Saratoga Springs man, is moving forward with plans to build a solar farm to serve the town of Lake George, even as it waits to hear…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":88,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[66,79,80,103],"class_list":["post-15531","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business-news","tag-business-news","tag-energy","tag-environment","tag-lake-george"],"yoast_head":"\r\n