Yorktown Planning Board Approves Kitchawan Farm Solar Project; Town Board OK’s Sustainable Westchester’s Community Choice Energy Program Option for Residents

On March 28,  the Yorktown Planning Board approved an 11-acre solar array for Kitchawan Farm. The solar array will have a capacity of 2.67 megawatts. According to the Solar Energy Industries Association’s estimate, 2.67 megawatts of solar power generate enough electricity to meet the needs of 438 homes.

“This solar array will serve two important purposes. It will help our community reduce its carbon footprint, while also helping Kitchawan Farm stay in business, which preserves open space,” said Supervisor Matt Slater.

Kitchawan Farm consists of two parcels totaling 23.12 acres located at 716 Kitchawan Road, in the Town of Yorktown. The property is owned by Van Brunt Cochran, LLC.
The farm has been family owned for 170 years. Siblings Alex and Lyndsay Cochran spoke about the farm and the importance of solar to keep the farm going at the Planning Board’s September 27th public hearing.

Like the nearby Arcadia Farm, Kitchawan Farm already has roof solar on the property. For the past 12 years, the solar panels on an 1800s barn have operated with no issues.

Kitchawan Farm’s solar array is a community solar project, which means that residents will be able to subscribe for solar power generated by the array either with Ecogy Energy or through Sustainable Westchester.

In other environmental news, the Town Board recently approved legislation that would allow the Town of Yorktown to opt into Sustainable Westchester’s Community Choice Aggregation program.

Westchester Power enables municipalities to purchase electricity in bulk for its residents and commercial businesses. Since launching last year, the Sustainable Westchester pilot program has reduced participating customers’ electric bills by about $10 each month.

“This is a realistic step that we can take as a municipality that will protect consumers from unpredictable rate hikes and, depending on future decisions of the Town Board, have significant environmental impacts by having our local energy produced by a green energy source,” said Supervisor Matt Slater.

If the Town Board decides to enroll in the program, the CCA enables Sustainable Westchester to become Yorktown’s default electricity provider, allowing it to buy electricity at a contracted fixed rate. Con Edison and NYSEG will continue to handle consumers’ billing and they will continue to deliver electricity, maintain power lines, and respond to service outages.

Customers in Yorktown are not obligated to participate in the program.“You can opt in and out of this, which is a very nice feature,” said Councilman Tom Diana. “One thing to keep in mind is that if you ended up opting out towards the end of the billing cycle, it may be one more month that you’d be in the program.”

Approximately 115,000 county residents and small businesses are currently enrolled in the program. “We’ve done our due diligence. This (action) is just enabling the legislation,” said Councilman Sergio Esposito. 

According to the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, the CCA allows local governments to work together through a shared purchasing model to put out for bid the total amount of electricity and/or natural gas being purchased by eligible customers within the jurisdictional boundaries of participating municipalities. Eligible customers will have the opportunity to have more control to lower their overall energy costs and to spur clean energy investment.