Patchogue board hears update on energy-savings program

Johnson Controls is in the process of installing the first of four solar arrays above the village-owned parking lot at the Long Island Rail Road station in Patchogue, a project that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and generate enough electricity to provide more than half of the power needed for Patchogue’s wastewater treatment plant, a company representative told the Patchogue Village Board of Trustees on Monday.

The 850-kilowatt project will also improve lighting at the station and save the village about $250,000 a year in energy costs, Chris Fitzsimmons, an account executive with Johnson Controls, told the board.

The installation of solar panels at the train station parking lot is the second phase of a long-term project Johnson Controls is undertaking for the village. Forty-one items were completed over four years in the first phase, ranging from installing LED lighting on village streets to installing solar panels on the roof of the Patchogue Theatre for the Performing Arts and above the parking lot behind the theater.

When the entire long-term project is completed, the village will save about $400,000 annually or $13.5 million over 25 years, Fitzsimmons told the board.

The solar panel project at the LIRR station will cost about $5.2 million.

The village received a $3 million federal grant and on Monday night voted to issue bonds for the remaining $2.2 million. The village expects to be reimbursed for some of that amount from the federal Inflation Reduction Act, village clerk Lori Devlin told the board.