News

Erie County wants SolarCity and another developer to build two of the biggest solar arrays in the Buffalo Niagara region on vacant county-owned land near the Alden Correctional Facility and near the county’s wastewater-treatment plant in Angola.

Erie County lawmakers are considering a plan that would see two developers construct solar arrays that could create enough electricity to reportedly save the county an estimated $9.5 million over 20 years.

The cornfield behind the Lewis County Public Safety Building will soon be filled with solar panels. With the stroke of a pen, the county has a 20-year agreement with a solar company called Greenskies. "It's kind of a no brainer as we've come to understand the economics of it. It really will lower our energy costs for a long time," said Liz Swearingin, county manager.

TO many skeptics, particularly on the right, the spectacular failure of the solar-panel manufacturer Solyndra in 2011, after receiving a $535 million loan guarantee from the Department of Energy, demonstrated the industry’s shaky future and the danger of government efforts to subsidize it to success.

LOWVILLE — Lewis County has reached a final agreement on a solar project expected to offer the county and its municipal hospital significant cost savings over the next few decades.