By DICK JONES
Special to the Gazette
STATE COLLEGE — The University Area Joint Authority’s solar energy project is expected to create at least $7 million in energy savings over a 30-year span. That’s what a group of 50 people, including municipal and county officials and members of Citizens’ Climate Lobby, learned during a presentation and tour on Sept. 22.
Cory Miller, UAJA’s executive director, explained the finances, benefits, maintenance and administration of the solar energy effort, which is a public-private partnership between UAJA and New York-based Pace Energy LLC.
Together the two solar arrays will provide a combined capacity of just under five megawatts of electricity. It is the largest municipal-hosted solar installation in Pennsylvania.
When completed, renewable energy will provide between 65 and 70 percent of the UAJA plant’s total energy consumption.
UAJA provides the land and buys the power generated by the solar panels, Miller explained. PACE Energy, LLC, which gets tax incentives for investing in renewable energy, owns the solar array. After seven years UAJA can buy the solar array from Pace Energy at a depreciated cost.
Also part of the project is a 1.5 megawatt storage battery built by Pace Energy at the UAJA site just off Shiloh Road. The battery helps stabilize frequency regulation of the power grid. Pace Energy gets a tax credit for the battery and splits the revenue with UAJA.
The University Area Joint Authority provides wastewater treatment and water recycling services to five municipalities: State College Borough, and College, Harris, Ferguson and Patton townships.
Miller said that UAJA had been looking at solar energy as far back as 2009 as a way to generate power onsite to handle times when power emergencies might take the plant off the grid. It wasn’t until 2016, however, that UAJA began to explore public-private partnership opportunities that led to the current project which will provide significant savings for UAJA ratepayers.
The presentation and tour was organized through the State College chapter of Citizens’ Climate Lobby.
Dick Jones is a member of the State College chapter of Citizens’ Climate Lobby.
