As originally published on www.oneidadispatch.com.

Lincoln, N.Y. – For a mid-October day, it was surprisingly sunny and a perfect time to talk about solar power.

Madison County, RER Energy Group and their project partners, town officials and other local dignitaries gathered at The Re-Use building to officially commission the installation of the solar array located at the county’s Buyea Road landfill.

People packed into the Re-Use building, chosen in case the weather did not cooperate.

“This is a project that we, at the county, have been working on for a number of years now. A little longer than we thought, but good things come to those that wait,” Planning Department Director Scott Ingmire said. Originally expected to be completed in July, the new solar array saw its ribbon cutting ceremony on Oct. 19.

A live feed gave attendees the change to see how much energy the solar panels were producing.

“It’s at full capacity right now,” Ingmire said. “This is exciting. It’s something we’ve been working on for such a long time. Madison County was the first county in New York state to start the Solarize campaign in 2012. I think that really galvanized our thinking on solar and what it can do on the municipal level.”

Solarize CNY is a volume-purchasing program that lowers the cost of installing solar energy for electricity.

The array was developed to supply energy credits to the County Office Building and County Jail utility accounts. The system will produce more than 2.8 million kilowatt hours of renewable energy annually, offsetting an estimated 73 percent of the county campus’ energy usage. County officials say that could save taxpayers roughly $3 million over the projected 25-year term of the agreement.

“It is remarkable to me, the foresight and leadership that Madison County has continued to show,” Sen. David Valesky, D-53, said. “It’s a source of great pride to be able to say that I actually represent probably the county, for many years, that has been on the cutting edge of renewable energy projects.”

The county has agreed to purchase all of the power created by the solar array for the next 25 years. Madison County does not own the array, nor are they paying anything for its installation; instead the county is simply purchasing the power it produces.

As originally published on www.oneidadispatch.com.