Solar Energy Farm Planned In Bristol Township

LOWER BUCKS COUNTY, PA —It's a no-brainer for Bucks County.

Michael Connelly, the director of operations for the Bucks County General Services Department, told Bucks County Commissioners that a solar farm at a former brownfield would be just that.

In a presentation before the Bucks County Commissioners on Wednesday, Connelly said that 40 percent in tax breaks would benefit the county.

The solar field is proposed on county-owned land where there is a large concrete pad that was once part of the Morton Thiokol operation at the property.

The building is planned for the open space in front of the warehouse at the county property on New Falls Road in Bristol Township’s Levittown section.

The county would sell the power back to PECO and the neighborhood would get rebates from PECO, he said.

Also, the use of the proposed 485.10-kilowatt solar energy farm would be equivalent to taking 1,500 vehicles off the road, planting 315,781 planted trees, and not using 16,033 barrels of oil.

Connelly said that the county would save nearly $562,000 in the first year because of its green energy design and reuse of a brownfield.

He said the solar farm could save $2.1 million in the county’s energy costs over 30 years.

After the fifth year, the county would begin to pay back on the loan. He said the system would cost $921,000.

Commissioners unanimously voted to hire Montgomery County-based Schiller and Hersh Associates for an amount not to exceed $29,490 to provide engineering services and construction consultation for the planned solar energy farm.