ALBANY, N.Y.—The Business Council of New York State awarded BQ Energy’s PatterSun Project the 2015 Environment Committee Chairman’s Award during the Annual Environment Conference held in Saratoga Springs.
“This award is one of the oldest and most prestigious honors given by The Business Council,” said Darren Suarez, director of government affairs for The Business Council of New York State, Inc. “BQ Energy’s Pattersun project follows in the footsteps of previous winners and reflects the ingenuity possessed by companies and organizations throughout the Empire State. We thank BQ Energy and the other award candidates for their participation.”
About the Pattersun project
The PatterSun landfill solar project is capable of generating 942 kilowatts of electric power from over 3,000 solar panels. It deploys above ground ballasted foundations so that there is no contact between the solar installation and the underlying waste material or geomembrane protective layers. Since the Town of Patterson is located in the New York City watershed, the project design was reviewed and approved by both the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and the New York City Department of Environmental Protection. Electric power produced by the PatterSun facility is being credited to the account of Trinity Pawling High School under New York State Remote Net Metering regulations.
In the first months of production, PatterSun has generated 918 Megawatt-hours of production. This has saved 698 tons of CO2, 28 tons of methane, and 455,095 gallons of water which would have otherwise been required for that level of power production.
About The Business Council Environment Committee Chairman’s Award
The Environment Committee Chairman’s Award is presented at the Annual Environment Conference by The Business Council. Competition is open to members and non-members of The Business Council. All applications are evaluated on their strength in the following specific areas: results, transferability/scalability, environmental impact, resource conservation impact, economic progress, and innovation/uniqueness.
The nominated finalists made project presentations at the 2015 Annual Environment Conference earlier this month.
Other projects entered in the competition were:
Solar Project for 5 Spoke Creamery
In April 2015, Energy Improvement Corporation (EIC) completed its first commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) financing in New York State, a milestone for its Energize NY Finance program. With the help of the program, 5 Spoke Creamery was able to install a 53kw solar system on the property that will provide 100% of the farm’s electricity needs. Bank of America Merrill Lynch has agreed to purchase up to $75 million of EIC financings, the proceeds of which are being used for clean energy projects including the 5 Spoke Creamery solar system.
Beneficial Reuse of Spent Sulfuric Acid
GLOBALFOUNDRIES
Fab 8 is committed to the principal of sustainable manufacturing. In order to facilitate this effort, GLOBALFOUNDRIES Fab 8 has developed a process to strategically target waste streams and make data-based decisions using a six sigma methodology. In October of 2013, GLOBALFOUNDRIES completed the evaluation process and initiated a project that would reduce the volume of spent sulfuric acid that was being shipped for waste disposal. As part of the overall project plan, GLOBALFOUNDRIES identified and qualified two facilities that could legitimately reuse and/or recycle the spent sulfuric in accordance with applicable solid waste exemptions. Since the commencement of the project, GLOBALFOUNDRIES has eliminated the generation of millions of pounds of hazardous waste by using that material to offset the purchase/production of several thousand gallons of virgin industrial grade sulfuric acid in the regional market.