It’s been 13 years since David Deane and Carol Carley installed solar panels on the roof of their Church Street home in Pine Plains. Asked if they’re satisfied with the conversion, Deane produces his latest electricity bill: $49.
“Not bad for a two-month bill,” he said. “I love it.”
Deane and Carley are among the dozens of Pine Plains homeowners who have opted to use solar power for their personal energy needs. At the time they installed the rented panels, Central Hudson was setting limits on how much of their electricity could be generated by solar power. Now that cap has been lifted, and Deane and Carley are not only covering their own needs but contributing surplus power back into the grid, earning them a modest check every year.
“If it’s a clear night with a full moon, you’re making power. Probably just enough to run a flashlight, but you’re making power,” said Deane, who has been living in solar-ready homes since the 1980s. “We try to be as energy efficient as we can.”
Credit: Judith Wolff
Pine Plains planners are currently considering a proposal for the area’s first large-scale solar field – a 43-acre array of 24,000 panels on Pulvers Corners farmland that would generate enough energy to power an estimated 1,500 homes across New York.
The project, which will be discussed at a public hearing on June 10, is part of a drive by state lawmakers to mitigate climate change by moving off fossil fuels and using renewable energy to generate 70% of New York’s electricity needs by 2030.
State and federal incentives have helped prompt many environmentally conscious homeowners to make the move to solar. Kate Osofsky, who installed solar panels on her home in 2015, received a tax credit for the first five years and has a 20-year payment plan with NRG Energy for the cost of the panels. So far, the panels have generated 66 megawatts of power.
At the time of the installation, Osofsky’s energy consumption involved “two kids and a hot tub,” but with her children now grown, much of the power generated by her panels goes back into the Central Hudson grid to serve other users. She pays a $40 monthly fee to be connected to the grid, but has otherwise been insulated from utility price hikes in addition to being paid for the extra energy she produces. Best of all, Osofsky said, “I feel like I’m doing something for the environment.” Osofsky also noted that her family’s business, Ronnybrook Farm, uses solar energy to heat water and is looking to expand its solar usage. “There are a ton of grants from New York state,” she said.
Larger Consumers Go Solar, Too
Private homeowners haven’t been alone in adopting solar power. Stissing Mountain Junior/Senior High School began operating a small array in 2019 in a bid to lower energy bills for the publicly funded school, which is the single-largest consumer of electricity in the school district.
Fred Couse, who sits on the school board, said former Superintendent Martin Handler saw other New York school districts taking advantage of state incentives for school facilities and decided to follow suit. The program, which called for a number of efficiency measures, including energy-saving lightbulbs and better controls on heating and cooling, required participating schools to offset the cost of the upgrades with energy savings.
Couse says the project, which was approved by the public in a district referendum, cost an estimated $3 million, with a 20-year payback deadline. Since then, New York has seen energy prices soar – with inflation, post-Covid supply issues, and Russia’s war in Ukraine all feeding a 30% spike in 2022-23 winter electric bills. Siemens, which installed the school’s solar panels, regularly reports back to the board on savings. Couse did not specify the amount, but believed it to be “significant.”
Richard McKibbon, the facilities director at Stissing Mountain – who, like Handler, had solar panels on his own home and was enthusiastic about building an array at the school — said the high school continues to consume more energy than it generates, particularly as technology needs grow. Still, he says the project delivers “positive payback” despite small drawbacks related to weather and maintenance. “If it’s a cloudy day, the panels don’t produce as much. If it snows, that can interfere. A lightning strike can blow a fuse.”
Still, the project – which last year produced 549,000 kilowatt-hours — delivers “positive payback,” McKibbon said.
‘A Little Bit of Satisfaction’
For small-scale enterprises, savings from solar power have helped fuel growth. Nelson Zayas and his wife, Lisa, were among the first Pine Plains residents to install panels, in
Credit: Judith Wolff
2006. Zayas said the yearly checks they received from Central Hudson for their surplus energy helped them add more panels four years ago and create additional cold storage for Willow Roots, their food pantry. “At one point our energy bill started going back up because of the extra refrigerators,” Zayas said. “But with the expanded panels, we’re back down to zero cost.”
Zayas, like other solar homeowners who spoke to the Herald, said he has never had to have a panel replaced. The biggest challenge, he said, has been installing guards to prevent squirrels from nesting under the warm panels and chewing on wires.
“I love to hear about solar panels going up. I’m always excited to hear about that kind of project,” said Zayas about the proposed Pulvers Corners array, which has sparked opposition among local homeowners concerned by potential visibility of the panels and any disruption to pristine farmland. “People don’t like to look at them, but it personally doesn’t bother me,” he added. “But I understand both sides.”
Scott Chase and his wife, Jeanne Valentine-Chase, have saved close to $1,000 a year in energy bills since installing solar panels on the roof of their barn in Bethel in 2016. They expect to be able to pay off the cost of the panels within the next five years. Chase, an experienced town planner who has studied land use planning and landscape architecture, has walked the Pulvers Corners site and calls the solar proposal “reasonable.”
“It’s not overly large for our community, and it’s an excellent location in that it’s barely visible from any other properties. I generally support the move off fossil fuels,” Chase said. “We feel good that we’re trying to do our part to switch to renewable, clean energy,” he added of his own rooftop panels. “It’s a little bit of satisfaction.”