Town Recycling Center Goes Solar

In an effort towards reducing its environmental footprint, the has completed the installation of a fifty kilowatt solar energy system. The new system sits atop the town’s recycling center at 85 Old Northport Road, Kings Park, and will provide electric power to the facility.

This solar energy system is one of the largest of its kind installed on a municipal building in Suffolk County and the recycling center is the town’s number one consumer of electricity. 

The center was a perfect choice for the project, according to the town’s Environmental Protection Director, .

“The building’s footprint is approximately an acre and a half. It is virtually flat, with no shade,” explains Barnett. “The 50kW system takes up 1/8 of the roof’s surface area.”

The system includes one hundred and sixty-one roof mounted SunPower photoelectric panels, each rated at 305 watts.

According to Barnett, the 50kW system provides about ten percent of the power needed to run the recycling center and will significantly reduce the need to purchase power from the Long Island Power Authority.

The total cost of the system was $227,386 after LIPA rebates of $147,591, but according to Barnett, it will pay for itself in 10 to 12 years.

“The town is saving between $17,000 and $19,000 a year,” Barnett says. “The system is virtually maintenance free and is resistant to damage from storms. It has a life span of thirty to forty years.”

Furthermore, according to the town, the system will enable Smithtown to avoid the emission of over seven tons of sulfur dioxide, three tons of nitrogen oxides and fifteen hundred tons of carbon dioxide that would have been generated by using traditional fossil fuel for power.

“It is part of our ongoing endeavor to make Smithtown energy efficient," said town supervisor Patrick Vecchio.

The change also was noted by a local environmental group.

"This is a great example of a Long Island town leading by example on clean energy,” says Andrew Manitt, vice president for operations of the Neighborhood Network, an Island-wide, not for profit, environmental organization.

“Smithtown's installation of solar photovoltaics not only improves our air quality and provides taxpayers with a hedge against rising fuel prices in the future, it supports and develops the local solar PV industry,” continues Manitt.  “Local government investment in renewable energy helps to create a market that can provide more affordable clean energy choices for homeowners."

Next the town has plans to install a wind generator at the recycling center to provide additional power to the facility. The town gave the go ahead for the installation of the wind turbines at Tuesday's town board meeting.