After a marathon executive session, the Greenport village board decided Friday to hold off on a vote regarding a plan for a new peaking plant on Moores Lane.
Greenport Village Mayor George Hubbard said, after an executive session that lasted over one hour and 15 minutes, that representatives for Global Common, a Garden City company, needed time to review the board’s draft of the agreement.
Once they have reviewed the draft, the Greenport village board will meet again and also, allow for public input on the proposed agreement, Hubbard said.
“We’re very close,” he said Friday.
The new draft of the agreement has benefits to the village, Hubbard said, including monthly rents going up and payments that will be received by the village sooner during construction of the facility.
The agreement is expected to be online at the Greenport Village website early this week, Hubbard said.
The village board began discussing a possible peaking power plant for Moores Lane back in April.
Robert J. Foxen, president and CEO of Global Common, came before the board to discuss energy opportunities, including the peaking power plant and the chance for a New York State Energy Research and Development Authority Microgrid prize, which the village was awarded.
Foxen also presented the board with a plan for a peaking plant last year, but that proposal fell through after PSEG withdrew its request for proposals for an additional plant; one site had been proposed for Moores Lane in Greenport.
Still, Foxen said, a “significant need” remains on the East End for a peaking plant.
Governor Andrew Cuomo and NYSERDA are advocating distributed and renewable energy generation to improve grid reliability and resiliency to reduce costs, he said.
The plan, he said, would offer “significant financial benefits for Greenport with minimal impacts.”
The possible new plant, he said, would have a capacity of 50 to 75 megawatts, have natural gas as its primary fuel, with high efficiency reciprocating engines, and would be located at a mutually agreed site near the existing peaking plant on Moores Lane, with an eye toward minimizing visibility. The plant would have minimal emissions and environmental impacts, Foxen said.
Benefits of the peaking plant would be rental income for the village ranging from $350,000 to $500,000 per year, taxes between $900,000 and $1.5 million per year, and the ability to provide supplemental energy for Greenport, a facet of the plan that was not part of last year’s proposal.
A conditional lease option agreement was also needed, Foxen said; site control was needed to discuss the issue with PSEG and proceed, he said. He added that the execution of the option would be subject to the board’s determination that there would be no significant or unacceptable safety or environmental impacts.
Hubbard said when the peaking plant was discussed last year, there was no ability for the village to get power from the facility, something that’s now a benefit, he said.
Trustee Doug Roberts asked why Greenport was chosen. “The East End is a big place,” he said.
Foxen said Greenport already has microgrid control and wires, enabling it to operate independently and in tandem with a grid.
Also, he said, “The other advantage is an underground cable that runs from Southold to Shelter Island and to the Hamptons, in East Hampton, so by having the plant here we’ll be able to serve Greenport, the North Fork and the South Fork, so that makes this location very desirable.”
While some residents applauded the proposal and said the peaking plant and grant funding could prove a windfall for the village, at least one resident asked the board not to vote for a peaking plant that would serve the energy needs of the Hamptons.
