The solar energy projects are expected to offset around one-third of the electric demand of the county’s public buildings.

By Tim Sylvia, PV Magazine

SunPower said it will work with Baltimore County to build two brownfield solar projects on the sites of former landfills.

The projects will generate 30 MW of clean energy, equivalent to the power used by one-third of the county’s municipal buildings, including government facilities. The installations will be located on the closed Hernwood and Parkton landfills, and will be the first large-scale solar energy projects in the county.

Construction is expected to begin in 2022 and the two will enter service by 2023.

Under power purchase agreements (PPAs), the county will pay no upfront costs; SunPowerand its financiers will cover the cost of developing and constructing the arrays. Over the 25-year PPA timeline, Baltimore County will pay a flat, fixed rate per kilowatt-hour. Through Maryland’s aggregate net metering rule, Baltimore Gas & Electric will credit the solar generated at the landfills against electric loads at other county buildings.

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For the entire article, see

https://pv-magazine-usa.com/2021/04/21/sunpower-brings-two-brownfield-projects-to-baltimore/

Posted April 27, 2021

By Ashley Onyon, Amsterdam Recorder (NY)

The Common Council revisited and approved a purchase option agreement for a South Side brownfield site on Tuesday.

The city tabled the pact earlier this month over concerns about the property’s value compared to the $250 purchase price if the option is exercised.

The council tabled a resolution during the April 6 meeting that would have authorized the city to enter a one-year purchase option agreement for the potential sale of 111 Erie Terrace to Mary and Michael Keegan of Schenectady. The site at one time was operated as Nathan’s Waste and Paper Stock Co.

The deal approved Tuesday lasts for six months, but it can be extended.

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For the entire article, see

https://www.recordernews.com/news/local-news/188334

Posted April 27, 2021

Kramer Levin provides a good summary of the program and its status.

Governor Cuomo’s FY 2022 Budget provides relief to participants in the New York State Brownfield Cleanup Program (BCP) that risk losing their Tangible Property Tax Credit due to pandemic-related and other delays.

Background on the BCP

The BCP provides state oversight, liability protection and tax incentives for the remediation and redevelopment of contaminated real property, known as brownfield sites. Hundreds of brownfield sites statewide have been remediated through the program. Sites that are accepted into the BCP are eligible for two different types of tax credits: a Site Preparation Tax Credit (covering remediation and other costs) and the more valuable Tangible Property Credit for redevelopment costs (covering the structures built on the site). Since the passage of legislation in 2015, sites in New York City must meet additional criteria to be eligible for the Tangible Property Credit. They must be located in an Environmental Zone (En-Zone) which is an area of high poverty or unemployment; have an associated cleanup cost that is 75% or more of the property value (so-called “upside down” properties); be “underutilized” per New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) regulations; or be redeveloped for affordable housing.

Read more...

Posted April 19, 2021

Solar Power World

Amphenol Aerospace Operations, a division of Amphenol Corporation, is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of interconnect products, providing the military, commercial aerospace and industrial markets with the cabling and connectors they need to operate. Located in Sidney, New York, the firm has a large presence in Delaware County, directly supporting more than 1,000 jobs in the Southern Tier region. In fall 2018, Amphenol Aerospace announced it would create a solar farm on top of a previous factory site. The resulting 6.3-MW project lowered Amphenol’s dependence on the local energy grid and turned a damaged site back into productive property.

The Amphenol land was a Department of Environmental Conservation–listed brownfield and had been a manufacturing site for 80 years. The manufacturing plant had also suffered significant damage during two major flooding events within the past decade. The flooding and environmental concerns made for a complex project, but it was one that EnterSolar was excited to take on as commercial project developer and EPC.

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For the entire article, see

https://www.solarpowerworldonline.com/2021/04/case-study-multi-faceted-solar-technologies-bring-complex-brownfield-site-to-life-in-new-york/

Posted April 12, 2021

Murphy Administration promotes redevelopment through tax credits and loans.

In February, Governor Phil Murphy highlighted two programs that will support the transformation of contaminated brownfields into vibrant community assets.G

The Brownfield Redevelopment Incentive will provide tax credits to support brownfields remediation projects and the Brownfields Loan Program makes low-interest loans of up to $5 million available to brownfield redevelopment projects for all aspects revitalization, including assessment, investigation, and demolition.

Read more...

Posted April 12, 2021

ecoRI News (RI)

A ground-mounted solar installation erected on a former oil terminal in East Providence will allow the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority (RIPTA) to save money on electric costs.

Under a remote net energy agreement with the project’s developer, Kearsarge Energy, RIPTA will receive energy credits for power generated by the 6,000-plus waterfront solar panel array on Dexter Road. RIPTA officials estimate that buying the credits from Kearsarge will save the transit authority at least $250,000 annually.

“As we move toward adding more zero-emission electric buses, we know that they will need charging infrastructure and that finding economical and eco-friendly energy sources is of increasing importance,” said Scott Avedisian, RIPTA’s chief executive officer.

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For the entire article, see

https://www.ecori.org/renewable-energy/2021/3/30/ripta-powers-up-with-solar-energy-from-brownfield-site

by Linda Laban, Boston Real Estate (MA)

Community-focused, environmentally friendly living.

That’s how Hall and Moskow Property Management and Development describes its ambitious net-positive Hillside Center for Sustainable Living in Newburyport, which recently completed phase one.

…

Given that the development is located on a former brownfield site, once a dump for coal ash and trucks and cars, a massive cleanup operation preceded the construction of the development, let alone any edible plantings.

“We pulled 110 semis worth of soil out of here. What’s left is clean,” Hall confirmed.

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For the entire article, see

http://realestate.boston.com/new-developments/2021/01/19/hillside-newburyport-rentals/

We want to share this information from BCONE member, Riker Danzig.

By Riker Danzig, Scherer Hyland & Perretti LLP, Lexology

New Jersey is rolling out a new tax incentive program for the redevelopment of underused, contaminated properties, known as “brownfield sites.” In fact, on January 7, 2021, Governor Phil Murphy signed into law the New Jersey Economic Recovery Act of 2020, P.L.2020, c.156 (the “Economic Recovery Act”), a broad piece of legislation that provides support for a variety of programs and policies related to jobs, small businesses, sustainable energy, and many other areas. Sections 9 through 19 of the Economic Recovery Act establish the Brownfields Redevelopment Incentive Program Act (the “Program”), which supplements the existing Brownfield and Contaminated Site Remediation Act. Put simply, the Program allows the New Jersey Economic Development Authority (“EDA”) to award up to $50 million in tax credits annually for six years to redevelopment projects in need of financial assistance to address environmental contaminants or hazardous building material, such as asbestos.

This article provides an overview of the Program and certain issues that developers may face based on our experience with similar incentive programs, including the predecessor to the Brownfields Redevelopment Incentive Program.

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For the entire article, see

https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=40ac0f24-ec20-4c8f-8b1a-e332693b74e1

By Anya Litvak, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (PA)

Making really big things requires really tall cranes, and Ellwood City-based Hall Industries Inc. has finally found a huge building that can handle them.

The metal fabricator is taking over an empty, old factory where the Cooper-Bessemer Corp. once churned out compressor engines. More recently, it was being used as a warehouse, said Tony Kaper, vice president of operations at Hall Industries.

Hall Industries will acquire the 468,000-square-foot Cooper Industrial Commons — a brownfield site in Grove City — and will renovate and purchase new machinery and equipment and provide employee training. 

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For the entire article, see

https://www.post-gazette.com/business/career-workplace/2021/02/13/Hall-Industries-Grove-City-Cooper-Industrial-Commons-brownfield-DCED/stories/202102120147

By Charles Malinchak, Allentown Morning Call (PA)

What was once the site of a 19th century Allentown iron foundry and quarry is set to be transformed into a 190-unit apartment complex, according to testimony before the city’s Zoning Hearing Board on Monday night.

The estimated $45 million project is on a 17-acre parcel on the city’s South Side and would consist of six, three-story apartment buildings with units ranging from one to three bedrooms, said Geoff Long, a representative of the project’s developer, Ingerman of Collingswood, New Jersey.

The developer went before the board Monday night seeking a variance to level some of the steep slopes on the property with grades that otherwise would not have been allowed to be altered under city zoning ordinances.

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For the entire article, see

https://www.mcall.com/news/local/allentown/mc-nws-allentown-zoning-apartment-complex-20210216-vgcyymfjv5enpcze4fj3ubqxde-story.html