Farmingville, NY Supervisor Ed Romaine and councilman Dan Panico broke ground and unveiled that American Capital Energy (ACE) has signed a Power Purchase Agreement with PSEG Long Island and a site lease agreement with the town that paves the way for solar farm construction to begin at the town’s Manorville compost facility. In addition, all permits are in place and ACE has filed with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC). Construction is expected to begin before the end of the year and be completed in spring of 2016. The solar farm at the Manorville compost facility will include 3,800 ground-mount solar arrays using low profile, ballasted mounts that require no ground penetration. No trees will be cut to accommodate any of the construction. The new facility will generate 1.2 Megawatts (MW) DC of power, enough to provide electricity to 1000 homes, 24 hours a day. In May of 2014, the town was awarded a Feed-In Tariff from PSEG Long Island for solar arrays on four town-owned sites: the Manorville compost facility, Brookhaven Calabro Airport, Holtsville ecology site and the Brookhaven landfill. The sites were selected after a review was conducted by PSEG Long Island, on behalf of LIPA to determine the likelihood of a successful project. This is part of the utility company’s multi-phase Clean Solar Initiative program designed to produce clean, renewable power for Long Island. The town will lease the sites to ACE, a solar developer, and anticipates receiving funds of $4 million to $5 million over the life of the systems for these initial four locations and awarded capacity. ACE will cover the cost of all construction and maintenance and provide the power to LIPA through a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with the utility company. The 54,000 solar panels that will be installed are expected to generate 12 megawatts AC (15 megawatts DC) of electricity (18 million kilowatt hours a year), enough to power 2,500 homes for 24 hours a day. Once complete, the entire program could include up to 14 town-owned sites with the capacity to produce enough electricity to power 8,400 homes for 24 hours a day, and the Town will receive an estimated $40 million to $50 million over the life of the Power Purchase Agreement. ACE estimates that Phase One construction at the four sites will create 150 full time direct jobs during peak construction times and average 70-80 continuous jobs. In addition, as many as 30 local support jobs (field survey, engineering, attorneys and consultants) will be created during the course of the project. The Manorville Compost Facility was first suggested as a solar farm site by Supervisor Romaine’s son Keith, who was elected to the Town Council in 2007 and served until his untimely death in 2009. “I am proud to follow up on Keith’s vision of a solar farm at this site,” said Supervisor Romaine. “Taking the Town green has been a priority of mine since taking office in November 2012.  Renewable energy is the future and we must take steps now to protect and preserve our fragile environment for our children and the generations that follow. I look forward to the day that this facility will be on-line and operational, providing Brookhaven residents with cleaner, greener energy.” “It is exciting to be at the forefront of the future of energy development in this Town,” commented Brookhaven Town Councilman Dan Panico.  “This scarred site will soon be known for the development of clean green energy.  Once a site of raucous noise associated with the processing of waste material, it will now support the quiet generation of solar electricity.  I am confident that my predecessor would be gratified and so will the community that surrounds this site.” Brian Hennessey, Vice President of American Capital Energy said, “We at American Capital Energy applaud Supervisor Romaine, Councilman Panico, Commissioner Miner and the Town of Brookhaven for the commitment they have shown to bring clean, renewable solar power to the Town’s energy mix.  This site, when completed, will provide enough renewable electricity to power 1,000 homes annually.  The construction phase will produce many high paying jobs for the residents of Brookhaven.  Acknowledgement also to PSEG Long Island for putting the proper incentives in place to allow for the construction of this facility.  We all look forward to bringing this project from the drawing board to completion and realize Keith Romaine’s vision for this facility.” “Eldor Contracting Corp., as a Brookhaven Town based business, is proud to be a part of this exemplary project under the leadership of Supervisor Romaine and his staff. We are looking forward to breaking ground soon and putting ‘boots on the ground’ to get this project underway,” said Keith Feldmann, Vice President of Eldor Contracting Corp. “PSEG Long Island commends the Town of Brookhaven for their forward thinking and support of solar generation,”  said Michael Voltz, Director of Energy Efficiency and Renewables. “We are committed to working with our municipalities, business groups, and community leaders to advance the development of solar energy and make Long Island a greener, cleaner environment for the future.” “The Town of Brookhaven is continuing its statewide leadership on solar development. As the largest Township in the State of New York and with projects like the recently completed BP Solar at Brookhaven National Lab and other projects in the pipeline ready to be built, the Town stands to remain at the forefront in its promotion of renewable energy. Local 25 of the IBEW looks forward to playing an important role in helping the Town achieve those goals,” said IBEW Local 25 Business Manager Kevin Harvey. ACE is one of the premiere solar engineering, procurement and construction contractor and solar developers in the United States.  They work with utilities to meet their renewable energy portfolio standard requirements through strategic partnerships with solar photovoltaic (PV) module manufacturers and experienced installation companies. ACE has installed more than 100 MW of solar PV in fifteen states; with an additional 30 MW of solar under construction, and their projects include some of the most challenging brownfield installations and some of the largest solar rooftop arrays in the United States.  ACE specializes in solar development on municipal land, including brownfields, solar carports and municipal roofs. The sub-contractor on the project is Eldor Contracting Corp., a Holtsville, New York based electrical contracting construction company that specializes in utility-level scale construction for multi-megawatt projects and interconnections. They will execute the installation using local labor. PSEG Long Island operates the Long Island Power Authority’s transmission and distribution system under a 12-year contract.  PSEG Long Island is a subsidiary of Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated (NYSE:PEG), a publicly traded diversified energy company with annual revenues of approximately $11 billion. Tags: