BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — Requests for proposals have been issued for on-site renewable energy installations at three state schools in Western New York, plus at sites owned by the city of Buffalo and Erie County.
It's all part of a renewable energy collaboration between the city, county, SUNY Buffalo State, SUNY Erie, and SUNY University at Buffalo, which is spearheading the initiative, dubbed Localizing Buffalo's Renewable Energy Future.
The goal is to build clean-energy installations of varying sizes around the city and county, plus on the campuses of the colleges involved. These installations would then aim to generate 100 megawatts of on- and off-site renewable energy by 2020. That equates to approximately 50 percent of all electricity used by the parties involved.
The power generated by the project would then be used by the five project partners. This could help save taxpayer dollars and reduce the effects of climate change, according to UB.
UB also indicates the project is expected to divert 82,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions annually, or the equivalent of taking 17,000 cars off the road.
With the RFPs being issued, those involved are looking for developers who may be interested in building renewable energy infrastructure on their sites, either as roof- or ground-mounted installations.
The initiative received seed funding from New York state through Governor Andrew Cuomo's Energy to Lead Competition, a clean energy competition for New York colleges and universities.
