Suffolk Executive Steve Levy, LIPA President and CEO Kevin Law Unveil Proposal to Turn Parking Lots into “Power Lots”

County’s Lease with enXco per LIPA Procurement will Establish Solar Carports

Hauppauge, NY – Suffolk County and the Long Island Power Authority plan to turn as many as seven major county parking lots into “power lots” in an agreement with a California-based international wind and solar project developer.

County Executive Steve Levy and LIPA President and CEO Kevin Law announced this morning that enXco – one of the two firms selected through a Request for Proposals by LIPA to provide up to 50 megawatts of solar power to the grid – will enter into a long-term lease agreement with Suffolk for as many as seven parking sites, where the company will construct carports with solar panels on the rooftops.

If all seven locations are utilized, the project would generate as much as 17 megawatts of solar power for LIPA -- enough to power 1,850 homes -- and reduce carbon emissions by more than 13 metric tons annually.

The county lots are located at: the H. Lee Dennison Building and the North County Complex in Hauppauge, the Cohalan Court Complex in Central Islip and the Riverhead County Center, as well as county-owned parking lots at the Long Island Railroad stations in Ronkonkoma, Deer Park and Brentwood.

The installations will not reduce the number of available parking spots at any of the locations, and the design allows for snow plowing and regular maintenance. Construction could begin as early as April, and take approximately a year to complete all seven installations.

“Solar energy is clean, renewable and safe, and our large parking areas provide ideal locations for solar panels,” said Levy. “It’s a win-win for everybody -- as not only do solar carports generate clean energy, but they provide a convenient shelter from hot sun or inclement weather for drivers.” Levy said he has submitted to the legislature a resolution to approve the overall agreement with enXco, which will provide annual lease revenue for the county over the next 20 years which could total approximately $8.5 million.

LIPA President and CEO Kevin S. Law said, “LIPA’s Solar Energy Project is the largest solar project in New York State, and keeps my commitment to Long Island and LIPA’s customers to invest in renewable energy and energy efficiency, to diversify our energy portfolio, to reduce our use and dependence on fossil fuels, to stimulate the local economy, to create clean energy jobs, and to help build the solar industry.”

Hanson Wood, Senior Developer at enXco said, “Today marks a commitment to build solar carport facilities for Long Island's energy future. It is because of the forward thinking individuals at LIPA, Suffolk County and enXco that we stand on the verge of one of the nation's most innovative utility scale solar PV installations. enXco looks forward to leveraging two decades of experience and an integrated approach to project development in order to deliver both economic and energy benefits to the Long Island community.”

Details of the seven project sites are provided below:

H. Lee Dennison Building, Hauppauge. 1.75 MW solar power generated. 7,737 solar modules on 24 solar arrays.
North County Complex, Hauppauge. 0.5 MW generated. 3,431 solar modules on 9 arrays.
Cohalan Court Complex, Central Islip. 3.5 MW generated. 15,113 solar modules on 27 arrays.
Riverhead County Center, Riverside. 3 MW generated. 11,536 solar modules on 31 arrays.
Brentwood LIRR Parking Lot. 1 MW solar generated. 3,924 solar modules on 11 arrays.
Deer Park LIRR Parking Lot. 2.25 MW solar generated. 3,924 solar modules on 39 arrays.
Ronkonkoma LIRR Parking Lot (south). 5 MW solar generated. 20,110 solar modules on 44 arrays.

LIPA, a non-profit municipal electric provider, owns the retail electric Transmission and Distribution System on Long Island and provides electric service to more than 1.1 million customers in Nassau and Suffolk counties and the Rockaway Peninsula in Queens. LIPA is the 2nd largest municipal electric utility in the nation in terms of electric revenues, 3rd largest in terms of customers served and the 7th largest in terms of electricity delivered. In 2010, LIPA outperformed all other overhead electric utilities in New York State for frequency of service interruptions, and ranked second for duration of service interruptions. LIPA does not provide natural gas service or own any on-island generating assets. More information about LIPA can be found online at: http://www.lipower.org.

Media Contact Information
Mark Gross
Phone - (516) 719-9892
Media Pager - (516) 229-7248
media.relations@lipower.org

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