There is a push into Greenburgh by a shell corporation called Eagle Energy Storage, apparently doing business as Strata Solar, whose tagline is Making Solar Work. Naturally, as long as Mr Feiner sees the word ‘solar’ or ‘green’ or ‘bio-anything,’ somewhere in the name, he’s all in. What this company is seeking to do is not so simple. And, there is a move afoot by Mr Feiner to “green light” this project without even having a law or code in place or in our Comprehensive Plan on governing these types of projects. And, apparently there are more in the pipeline.
What we’ve learned thus far is that the applicant is apparently a shell company seeking to build a battery storage structure on a portion of the Knollwood Country Club property. Then they will capture energy in the off-hours when power is cheaper in the mornings and evenings when demand and prices rise and resell that same stored power, generated by ConEd and others, back to ConEd when the rates are higher.
Aided by Mr Feiner who appears to be trying to get this application through the process before any code or law is adopted by the Town (ostensibly by Mr Feiner and his Board), this proposal is fraught with unanswered issues that should be addressed before anything moves forward with this project. So much so that there is a prepared paper with answers to some of them.
One issue is that Mr Feiner and others queried the financial benefits to the town. Specifically, how much property taxes will this generate? Property taxes applicable to the project will ultimately be determined by the tax code and the judgement of the Town Assessor. This is a sneaky way to say, “Your guess is as good as ours.” The Strata Solar team estimates that the project may ultimately pay $30k-$50k per year in property taxes over the life of the project (up to $1.5mm over 30 years). Reread that sentence. It says MAY, not WILL. The actual number will be determined in coordination with the Town Assessor. This is lawyer-speak for, “We don’t have a clue.”
But since specifics have never been a hallmark of any of the Feiner administrations, they’ll contend that this doesn’t really matter. In fact, you’ll recall the ESCO that Mr Feiner placed every resident and small business into after he promised individual savings of $400 to $600 dollars a year? Not only were his figures never able to be substantiated, it turns out that everyone in the ESCO paid more for the power transmission costs than had they simply stayed with ConEd!
An issue was asked by a Town Councilperson who asked what would happen if the lines between the battery array and the Elmsford substation went down. We wanted to confirm that the battery project could in no way negatively impact the Town’s power supply. Really? Let’s actually examine two small pieces of this pie. First, the substation in question (next to Bed Bath and Beyond) has had minor issues through the years but has never actually “been down” at any point. Second, the plan is to run power lines from the substation underground and on existing poles to the Country Club. This would be no different than any other power lines on a pole. And since the battery array seems to be nothing more than a Ponzi Scheme to sell power back to its supplier, there should be no impact to the local power supply, the grid or the region. In fact, we lose power in our area more often due to fallen trees throughout the Town during storms and other weather events.
Another question was about fire department response should there be a fire at one or more of these 7 proposed units. By the way, the proposed 7 units, which could easily be increased later with more petitions from the developer. Naturally, the Town Board would approve their excuse for by-passing any subsequent code changes/requirements as they should be considered “grandfathered” as their unit was installed pre-code change. Regardless, the Authority-Having-Jurisdiction (AHJ) is the ever-capable Elmsford Fire Department.
While the Elmsford FD is an all-volunteer department, the developer proposes any fire as only taking three-and-a-half hours to burn off. What they failed to mention is that battery fires aren’t so much about the fire, but the heat generated and keeping the units cooled off. They don’t say how long that will take, but they also mention that the second fire department who would be called to respond is the Fairview Fire Department. Interesting how they would presume that the Fairview FD would be the next department called? They also state that they have met with Chief Malone of the Elmsford Fire Department on site, and he has submitted a letter supporting the project. While we don’t doubt that Chief Malone signed off on this nor did anything wrong, but full disclosure is that he is a retired Deputy Chief of the Fairview FD.
Make no mistake about it, for all of the lipstick being put on this proposal, for all of the upstate to downstate power considerations, for all of the solar comments (of which this project has none), of all of the clean energy issues mentioned and especially the lack of regulations and/or codes in place, the Town should slow this train down and not allow this project to move forward until numerous conditions are put in place. That’s how we can make sure to have A Better Greenburgh.
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