Planning Board Gives Green Light to Solar Panel Project

A Ridgewood office building will likely be going green in a big way after the planning board unanimously approved an application to install well over 100 solar panels atop the roof at 555 Goffle Road.

Sun Farm Network representatives, a solar power project company, will be installing over 136 4-foot by five-foot solar panels–each about 10 inches high–to supplement the power supply of the two-story office building near the intersection of Rock Road and Goffle (a few stores down from Homestead Roofing).

As with most solar proposals, Sun Farm owns the panels, not the building owner, but the owner is able to reduce the building's energy costs by consuming up to 40 to 50 percent of the power generated, project engineer Brian Bizjak testified.

The solar panels collect the sun's energy then hit an inverter, which converts the energy from DC power to AC power, which feeds back to the building during the day and helps keeps it charged at night as well. Any excess power is sold back into the power grid, though Sun Farm representatives testified that such ancillary benefits are not the reason it's pursuing the project.

Joseph DeMaria, the project architect, testified that each panel produces about 305 watts, translating to about 400 100-watt light bulbs. The system, he said, was virtually silent, has no mechanic parts and should not require any maintenance after installation.

Being placed at the rear of the building facing the rail road tracks at Rock Road, there are no neighbors who would be concerned with what some might consider eyesores, and the panels will not be visible from the street, Sun Road representatives testified.

Village Planner Blais Brancheau expressed some minor concern that the panels could be damaged should significant snowfall accrue, but because the panels heat considerably, it melts and would be very unlikely to pose a problem, DeMaria said. Brancheau also said safety railings along the perimeter may be needed but that will ultimately be up to building code officials.

From a safety angle, Brancheau questioned if firefighters could properly respond to an emergency on the roof given the obstacle of well over 100 panels, each of which weighs roughly 160 lbs. Bizjak said he's heard California firefighters have been known to put an opaque tarp over the panels to mitigate the electricity generated; he also said that panels can simply be lifted by firefighters and placed somewhere else.

The planning board stipulated in its approval that the building official and fire department must sign off on the plan. The village has recently frowned upon a and the school board also heard a solar panel project in recent weeks, though it too didn't seem wildly enthused over the proposed project it received.