By CRAIG FREILICH

CANTON – The village and town of Canton expect to save about $2 million over the next 20 years thanks to a municipal solar array to be built at the old Ideal Drive-In Theater site.

Construction of the village and town solar-electric array will start in the spring or early summer, according to Mayor Michael Dalton.

The array, rated at just under one megawatt of output, will be built by Solar City, a California-based solar company with offices all over the country.

The site of the array, the old drive-in property, is about a mile south of Main Street in the village on Gouverneur Street, U.S. Rt. 11.

The 16-acre site was bought for $180,000 and has been annexed into the village.

“It’s just over a little embankment,” Dalton said. “You’ll be able to see it coming in (to the village) but not going out,” Dalton said.

“We’re working toward spring or early summer construction, but we’ve got some hoops to get through,” the mayor said.

Zoning for the site has to be set, and permits from planners are needed. Dalton says the planning work will probably be done by the St. Lawrence County Planning Office due the proximity of the major roadway.

“Then in the spring, construction will begin,” Dalton said.

“We’ve done all the due diligence. We’re not anticipating any problems,” the mayor said.

The village has contracted with Solar City to build the array and maintain it for 20 years, and in return they will get 7.1¢ per kilowatt-hour generated by the photoelectric panels.

The power will feed National Grid’s lines through an interconnect at the site that will meet the specifications of the electric power distribution company.

The village and town will get credits on their electric bills for the power they send to the grid.

The village and town have joined up with MEGA, the Municipal Electric and Gas Alliance, which negotiates for power rates on behalf of a pool of municipalities to get them lower rates.

There are options for the village and town at specific points in time, Dalton said. For instance, the municipalities could buy the array outright at the end of the 20 years, or extend the contract for another 10 years.

“We left the options in so future boards will have choices later.”

Considering the electricity used by the recreation center on Lincoln Street, the municipal building downtown, the sewage and water facilities, the firehouse, and streetlights, among other municipal energy users, “we will save a considerable amount of money. So we will have the ability to save taxpayers some money, and there’s no reason not to do it.”

The village also had hopes that the Ideal Drive-In site would be able to provide the village with an alternate water supply, but test wells showed that the water there was “too high in chlorides. It could be filtered out, but that would be expensive, and there are cheaper options,” Dalton said.