Niagara University officially announces future solar farm
Dec. 13—LEWISTON — After being on the drawing board for two years, Niagara University officially announced a new solar farm will be coming to campus, which would eventually have the entire school running on renewable energy.
The announcement was made at the Gallagher Center on Friday, with Niagara University President Rev. James Maher C.M., school faculty, students, and staff from Montante Solar, which Niagara University is collaborating with to build the array, in attendance.
The solar farm will be located on a 17-acre plot of land near the southern entrance, with land clearing already underway. About 7,500 ground-mounted panels will produce 4 MW of power, or 5.6 million kilowatt hours of power, to campus buildings. They will be tracker panels, following the sun as it moves over the course of a day.
"The setting on the campus perimeter is intentional to demonstrate their environmental stewardship, to make every visitor entering from the south entrance see the array," said Dan Montante, the president of Montonte Solar.
The solar will be surrounded by trees, brushes, shrubs, and decorative fencing, with Montante saying there will be pollinator rich horticulture to increase biodiversity.
The farm is planned to be operational in October 2023. Once the solar farm goes online, Niagara University will be able to achieve 100% carbon neutrality. It receives a hydropower allocation from the New York Power Authority covering half of its power usage, with this solar farm covering the other half. As a result, the university will be able to reduce CO2 emission by 8.8 million tons over the next 10 years.
"We'll wrap up some basic site work in the early winter months," Montante said. "Then as things really do cool down, we will take a break and recommence construction in the spring. We look forward to coming back about this time of the year to formally celebrate the commissioning of the project."
Maher brought up an encyclical written in 2015 by Pope Francis, Laudato si, which calls for humanity to be good and faithful stewards of creation. He added that this farm is a manifestation of their commitment to praising God for the gift of life and the blessing of the earth that we share.
"As we think about the challenges of the world, whether it's hunger, poverty, violence, or refugees, we place climate change and the challenge that we face, right in the midst of all of that, and the ecological crisis that we face," Maher said. "But we face it together as people of science, as people of faith, and as people who care deeply about the life that we share on this planet."
The Lewiston Town Board granted approval for this solar farm to go ahead in June, as anyone who wants to put a solar farm on their property in the town needs its approval.
The power generated by the panels would also earn the university a net cost savings on it through power credits over the next 25 years.
