Company wants to revive plan for solar farm at Springs site

An Indianapolis-based solar energy company wants to develop a 1.2-megawatt solar farm in Springs at the site of a former East Hampton Town brush dump.

Representatives from AES Distributed Energy presented a proposal at a town board work session on Tuesday that would move forward a solar farm originally pitched by SunEdison before that company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2016.

SunEdison had announced in 2015 that it had agreements with five Long Island municipalities to develop commercial-scale solar arrays, though none came to fruition before the firm filed for bankruptcy. AES representatives said the company had also acquired SunEdison’s project to develop a 4-megawatt solar farm at Francis S. Gabreski Airport in Westhampton Beach as well as at the solar farm at the Cedar Creek sewage treatment plant in Wantagh.

AES is now asking the town board to transfer SunEdison’s option to lease agreement or adopt a new lease at the Accobanac Road site so it can build a solar farm there. That location, atop a capped landfill, is well-suited for a solar farm, according to Jeff Gorman, AES project development director.

“It’s a great reuse of the property,” he said during the work session.

The facility is estimated to produce enough energy to power about 118 homes, according to AES engineer Christopher Thomas, who also spoke at the meeting.

Gorman said the facility would be online by September, as that is the deadline PSEG has given for the project. The energy would be generated through solar panels at the site and then be distributed to the grid under a long-term energy contract with LIPA.

Linda James, a member of the East Hampton Town energy sustainability committee, said the project helps move the needle toward the town’s goal of meeting all of its energy needs through renewable sources.

“This is our first solar array, and it’s as significant as it could be,” she said.

By Vera Chinese

vera.chinese@newsday.com@VeraChinese

Vera Chinese joined Newsday in 2017 after working as an editor for the East End lifestyle publication northforker and a general assignment reporter for the New York Daily News.