Cohoes gets solar array boost
National Grid grants city $750,000 toward unique floating facility
The city’s proposed 8,000panel floating solar array on the city reservoir to generate electricity to power city buildings received another financial boost Tuesday when National Grid donated $750,000 toward funding the $5.9 million first of its kind in the nation demonstration project.
The National Grid grant supplements the $3 million in federal funds obtained by U.S. Rep. Paul Tonko, D-amsterdam, to set the project sailing toward completion. Engineering work is expected to start on the 3.2 megawatt grid of panels in a month, according to city officials.
“This will become a model for other working-class cities like Cohoes that have manmade reservoirs,” Mayor Bill Keeler said, standing on the bank of the reservoir off Vliet Boulevard adjacent to the city water treatment plant.
Tonko said Cohoes has regenerated the pioneer spirit that marked the mill towns in the Capital Region and the Erie Canal corridor in the 19th cen
tury when industrial innovations were part of the regional fabric.
“I can’t wait for the day, mayor, when you are the demonstration site that others will come to and visit to understand that it’s doable, it’s achievable and it’s awesome with the ripple effects that come with this program,” said Tonko taking advantage of the opportunity for a pun.
The city pumps its drinking water supplies from the Mohawk River into the 10-acre reservoir. The water’s surface is the largest undeveloped open space in the city, making it a prime site to erect the floating solar array without worries of the panels taking up productive farmland or other land.
There are only about 14 floating solar arrays in the country, all privately owned, according to Jason Wert of RETTEW, the firm Cohoes is prepared to hire to perform the engineering work. There are 492 reservoirs in New York and about 24,000 nationwide that could be sites for floating arrays. It’s estimated that 10 percent of the nation’s electrical needs could be met through floating arrays.
Cohoes’ solar array initiative will be the first one to be permitted by the state, Wert said. The city will be working with the firm to secure the state permits.
Laurie Poltynski, National Grid executive director for Eastern New York, said the $750,000 grant, which includes a $50,000 education component to explain the use of the panels and green energy to students, is largest that the utility gives. Polytynski said the grant will assist Cohoes and its residents and aid National Grid in its transition to green energy supplies.
The grant includes support for the mapping and visualization project developed at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute by James A. Hendler, director of the Rensselaer Institute for Data Exploration and Application, and John Erickson, the director of operations, for showing the reservoir sites across the state and supporting information. They said the maps and information will be available online at idca.rpi.edu.
The city has raised about 70 percent of the funding for the project and continues to solicit additional donations, Keeler said.
The floating panels are expected to improve the water quality of the reservoir by preventing algae blooms and save water by preventing evaporation.