The Brandon Energy Committee presented a request that the Town Select Board set aside $300,000 of the +/-$750,000 unallocated ARPA funds for a solar-energy system that would save the town roughly $24,000 a year in electricity costs. This would benefit all taxpayers in Brandon. With recent tax law changes, the Town qualifies to get at least 30% of this $300,000 back as a refund, and possibly 50%. This $90,000 to $150,000 rebate, payable within about a year of completion, could be used for other projects that would further improve the town.
It is great to have concerns about the eventual decommissioning of old solar panels be considered up front, before the town makes a decision to pursue investing in this relatively new, ‘latest and greatest’ technology. It is fitting to delve into this concern with an eye toward minimizing any long-term adverse effects and with as good an understanding of the costs as we can get.
We certainly should learn our lesson from the environmentally costly experience we have created with the waste generated by the internal combustion engine (ICE) and its energy source. We have been experimenting with this ICE technology for over 120+ years, without effectively confronting many of this industry long term adverse impacts.
There is a lot being researched about this decommissioning topic, and Europe has taken the lead in holding those who construct panels to be responsible for their safe recycling and disposal. What a concept! Short of the United States following suit, states may pick up on this. As of now, my understanding is that the EPA does classify solar panels as hazardous waste, and thus sets requirements for recycling, but leaves that burden (costs and all) with the owner of the panel.
I also understand that 85% to 90% of the materials are readily recyclable with today’s technology. And that many of these materials are cost beneficial to recycle now. A growing number of industry experts are indicating that with mining costs increasing steadily and manufacturing paying greater attention to recyclability of their products (thank you Europe), recycling solar panels will be a profitable new industry in the coming decades, employing thousands. Also, recent studies suggest that a solar panel’s utility will last 40 to 50 years, not the original 20 to 30 years projected as recently as 7 years ago. There is reasonable hope that more effective recycling technology will be developed in the coming decades.
In fact, new methods for building panels are being implemented as we speak. One report indicates that China has already started to employ the use of some major material components in solar-panel construction that make recycling easier. Even racking systems are being converted from aluminum to steel, which is far more cost effective to recycle.
My preliminary study of this topic suggests that according to research done by New York State, current costs to decommission solar panels are between 3 cents per watt and 4.5 cents per watt. Were the town to build a 108kW solar array, the cost according to these studies would be in the range of $3,240 to $4,860. The experience of a decommissioned large solar project in Minnesota (racking and all) was that the expenditures to decommission the system was just over $3.4 million. The resale and salvage costs of the panels and steel framing was just over $5.2 million, leaving a $1.8 million surplus. The age of the system was not clear.
These examples may oversimplify what it will take for our town to decommission any solar project we build. The Energy Committee will be doing more research on this topic to gain more confidence that our recommendations are well founded. One approach to address these concerns is to require the installer to be responsible for decommissioning costs and requiring that these costs be part of the original bid for the system installed.
Another concern brought up at the Select Board meeting last Monday was that the State of Vermont, under its Public Utility Commission (PUC) rules, would require that the Town provide a letter of credit to cover estimated decommissioning costs at the start of the project. A closer read of the PUC regulations indicates the following:
1) there is no decommissioning requirement for systems under 150 kW,
2) while systems of 150 kw to 500 kW are required to decommission their systems at the end of their useful life, though there is no requirement for funds to be set aside for this activity
3) it is only when you exceed 500 kW that the extensive requirements for decommissioning really become applicable.
We are proposing a 108 kW system. However, this does not take away from the need for a more rigorous analysis of decommissioning costs that the Energy Committee will undertake in the coming weeks.
Your input, questions and concerns will assist us in doing our job more effectively. Please contact us at brandonenergycommittee@gmail.com.
Jim Emerson, for the Brandon Energy Committee
