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Solar System Gets its Place in the Sun

Town of Tonawanda business park launches demonstration project

By Matt Glynn

April 5, 2011

Riverview Solar Technology Park will put DuPont's solar technology to the test, to see how the company's product performs in a rigorous climate like the Northeast's.

The demonstration project also gives TM Montante Development, the developer of the Town of Tonawanda business park, an opportunity to promote its plan to use solar energy to supply power to tenants.

Riverview Solar Technology Park will install a scaled-down system of 60 DuPont Apollo panels, capable of generating a total of 6 kilowatts of power, said Daniel Montante, a director of TM Montante. The installation should be complete in late May or early June.

DuPont Apollo's amorphous, or thin film, silicon solar panels typically have been installed outside the United States in southern climates, with higher temperatures, different sun angles and lacking harsh winters.

The Town of Tonawanda project will give the technology a chance to prove itself in weather conditions common to the Northeast, a region that Montante described as a growth target for solar energy development.

DuPont says its full-scale 10-kilowatt amorphous silicon panel system can generate 10 percent to 20 percent more electricity in a year than a typical 10-kilowatt solar panel system. It says the panels are more effective at converting the sun's energy into electricity at dawn and dusk, as well as on cloudy days.

DuPont also says its panels are more aesthetically pleasing, with uniformly black or brown modules that do not to clash with their surroundings.

The DuPont Apollo panels will be installed at the entrance to the Tonawanda business park, located along River Road, northeast of the South Grand Island bridges. The panels will supply power for applications at the park's front end, such as signs and lighting.

"It's meant to really showcase solar technology and make it abundantly clear to people that they are entering Riverview Solar Technology Park," Montante said.

He declined to disclose the cost of the project. The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority is contributing about $10,000 through an incentive program, said Dayle Zatlin, the agency's assistant director of communications.

Before a project is approved for such funding, it undergoes a design review, and the applicant is asked to look at current utility bills to measure energy consumption, Zatlin said.

"They need to be creating less than 110 percent of their annual usage to be economical," she said. "We're not looking for people to put these [systems] in and put it back into the grid."

TM Montante opened Riverview Commerce Park in 2007 and rebranded it Riverview Solar Technology Park early last year. A substantial share of the park will be left undeveloped, to create a unique setting.

It now has two buildings, with seven tenants and 200 employees. One of the buildings is powered by a 25-kilowatt solar array set up nearby.

Plans for the 180-acre park include 50 acres at its far end for a "solar farm," to provide power to tenants. TM Montante also can handle solar projects on a third-party basis, outside of the park.

"One of the big obstacles we're trying to overcome is the preconception that solar doesn't work in our region," Montante said.

Montante spent 11 years with DuPont, including four years in its solar business.

DuPont manufactures Tedlar, a material that is part of the back sheet for the solar module, at a Town of Tonawanda plant only a few miles from the business park.

mglynn@buffnews.com