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Madison County and Solar Liberty Throw the Switch on 210 Solar Panel Array

Ribbon cutting in snow

Excitement abounds at the Madison County Landfill

The use of excess heat from the County’s Gas-to-Energy facility will be used in Johnson Brother’s Lumber’s soon to be constructed Drying kilns at the Buyea Rd. Landfill site and the newly installed 210 panel solar array will provide all of the power necessary to run the landfill’s operations building.

A Ground Breaking and Press Conference for Johnson Brothers Lumber’s new drying kilns and to “throw the switch” for the new 210 panel solar array, implemented and installed by Solar Liberty of Buffalo, NY via a power purchase agreement (PPA) will take place at 11:00 a.m. Friday, December 12, 2014 on the lawn in front of the ARC Recycling Center, 6663 Buyea Rd. in the Town of Lincoln.

The solar array, recently installed by Solar Liberty of Buffalo, NY will produce 50kW of power from the photovoltaic installation and will take care of 100 percent of the electrical needs for the Landfill’s Operations Building.

(Photo)L-R: James Zecca, Director of the Dept. of Solid Waste, James Goldstein, Lebanon Town Supervisor and Chairman of the Madison County Dept. of Solid Waste and Sanitation, Scott Bryant, Solar Liberty Commercial Representative, Mike Prinzi, Solar Liberty Senior Project Manager, Congressman Richard L. Hanna, John Becker, Chairman of the Madison County Board of Supervisors, Scott Henderson and City of Oneida Supervisor cut the ribbon for Solar Liberty’s new solar array at the Madison County Landfill site Dec. 12, 2014. Photo by Sharon A. Driscoll, media director. The power purchase agreement between Madison County and Solar Liberty is for 15 years. The County will pay .05 cents per kilowatt hour guaranteed for the life of the contract. Solar Liberty provided and installed all of the solar panels and will maintain the array.

Founded in 2003, Solar Liberty installs grid-tied photovoltaic solar energy systems for government, nonprofit, education, commercial, and residential customers. Since then, they’ve installed solar panels systems for scores of New York state businesses, schools, municipal buildings, non-profits and homeowners. In 2012 NYSERDA and the Department of Energy awarded the “Outstanding Achievement Award” to Solar Liberty for being the Largest Solar Electric Installer in New York State. Visit solarliberty.com for more information. “We want to thank Jim Zecca and the Madison County team for this exciting project. Madison is leading the way in New York State by transforming landfills into active energy producing sites.” said Adam K. Rizzo, President and CEO of Solar Liberty.

Director James Zecca said, “Our department and the Solid Waste Committee continue to find alternative sources of energy for our operation. This is another step toward that goal.”

Those expected to attend the Ground Breaking and Press Conference are: Director James A. Zecca, members of the Madison County Board of Supervisors, including Chairman John Becker. Also expected are: Kipp Hicks, Director of the Madison County Industrial Development Agency, Mike Johnson, General Manager of Johnson Brothers Lumber, Adam K. Rizzo, President and CEO of Solar Liberty