Clearfield Community Center OK’d For Solar Panel System

AMHERST, NY – Amherst is going solar. The Town Board approved Amherstbased Solar Liberty Energy Systems to install a 15-kilowatt solar panel system on the roof of the Clearfield Community Center. The system would be installed in the fall/winter time frame and cover 30 percent of the center’s electricity needs.

The solar system will be the first for a town-owned building.

The $62,788 cost of the system will be covered by a federal grant, said Michael

E. Delamere, a town engineer overseeing the use of federal stimulus money.

A federal grant of $72,600 was originally to be used to add solar panels to the town’s highway garage. But Delamere said the Highway Department’s roof system was not strong enough to support the solar panel system needed, so the town moved the system to the community center.

Delamere said the solar system would save the center about $300 a month, or $3,600 over the course of a year.

The Buffalo News
By Sandra Tan