Frustrations mark Brookhaven attempt to hook up solar farm on landfill to grid

Last fall, contractors for the Brookhaven Town finished work on a signature accomplishment — a solar farm atop the town’s 270-foot-tall landfill. But in the months that followed, the town has run up against engineering and testing requirements that have kept the project from feeding its energy into the electric grid.

For town Supervisor Dan Panico, it’s been a series of frustrations that he says undermine his and state government’s efforts to do right by residents and the environment. He said the Long Island grid is not only missing out on the 8.9 megawatts of green energy the plant would deliver now — the project, when fully complete with up to five other planned arrays, could generate upward of $1 million for the town from leasing and other fees.

That’s looking increasingly unlikely given the series of challenges ahead, starting with the possible reduction or elimination of federal tax credits that could sharply impact the larger project’s viability. Brookhaven has plans for five more 6-megawatt solar farms atop the landfill.

Getting the fully constructed site connected to the grid has been a challenge because of varying levels of testing and engineering work and approvals needed from LIPA/PSEG Long Island and communications company, Verizon, Brookhaven officials said.

Brookhaven Town attorney Annette Eaderesto in a statement said, "The reason the solar [array] is not yet connected is that it takes months to get an appointment to test. When it was finally tested, there is an issue with the Verizon connection. Once fixed, another wait for a further test."

PSEG spokeswoman Katy Tatzel said the utility made two awards for solar arrays atop the landfill and "both of these projects have their interconnection work completed and are in the final stages of construction by the developer and are now awaiting the developer’s signed site test plan."

Tatzel said, "Upon our review of that and our approval of it, we will then energize the facility for final tests, which if successful, will lead to us giving them the ‘Permission to Operate.’"

Panico said it’s not just the federal government that’s thrusting uncertainty into his efforts. Expansion of the project is going to require the developers, i.on Renewables and Coast Energy, to build a new substation to channel the power into the grid. But that ambition could require years of engineering and bureaucratic work by the developer, and it will still require approval from LIPA and PSEG.

Tatzel of PSEG said the utility has "no such application" for a new substation.

Panico said the state has reduced or removed any local incentives for such plants, and has been relatively absent in public support for other technologies such as battery storage that could have complemented the solar farms at the industrial site — away from homes and businesses.

Asked if the town spent money on the project or had expected funding from the state, Panico said no, noting, "This is being built without costing [the state] one dollar."

New York State has programs to help municipalities and communities transition "underused" spaces, including landfills, for renewable energy projects. Already, there are 25 state-funded renewable projects at landfills across the state. 

But New York State Energy Research and Development Authority's collaboration with Brookhaven on its landfill project "ultimately ended because the project was not financially viable due to high interconnection costs," NYSERDA said. 

The landfill, in addition to hosting the solar farm at the facility’s highest point at 270 feet, also hosts a fuel-cell energy plant and captures methane for use by the facility. There used to be a small power plant there, but it’s been shut down.

The solar farm completed in November was a technological challenge. Because the landfill is capped, and builders can’t penetrate that cap for construction, all the panels on metal racks are held in place with ballast to keep them from blowing away. There are 16,224 panels producing 8.923 megawatts of power on a sunny day.

The six new projects planned for the site will come in stages, but only if they prove financially viable for the developer, something the loss of the federal tax credits will most certainly impact.

"We’re now confronted with the potential loss of federal tax credits," Panico said. The developer, he added, has offered to pay for the substation, needed because existing LIPA substations are at capacity.

Loss of the tax credits at the federal level, he said, will "kill battery storage." He’s reached out to companies that have proposed big projects in Brookhaven lately and they are "non responsive" when he asks if latest congressional plans would impact their projects.

On the state level, Panico said the town tried for 2 1/2 years to work with the state’s primary green-energy arm, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, to take the lead on the initial solar project.

"I can’t say how frustrating it’s been with NYSERDA," he said. 

The problem, he said, is that the state green-energy edicts "do not filter down to the functionaries" who are charged with easing the way for the projects. "We try to be a partner, but at almost every turn, the partnership is one-sided."

A spokeswoman for NYSERDA, in an emailed response to Newsday questions, said that state agency "has no involvement with the Town of Brookhaven's distributed generation solar project."

NYSERDA "collaborated with the Town of Brookhaven for more than three years to evaluate the viability of the Brookhaven Landfill site for a large-scale solar project and potential battery energy storage. The collaboration ultimately ended because the project was not financially viable due to high interconnection costs."

Separately, NYSERDA said, solar funding for such projects on Long Island through a program called NY-Sun has ceased after the money ran out in 2019. 

By Mark Harrington

mark.harrington@newsday.comMHarringtonNews

Mark Harrington, a Newsday reporter since 1999, covers energy, wineries, Indian affairs and fisheries.