M'burgh Looking into LED Lights, Charging Stations

By David Avitabile

MIDDLEBURGH - Now that the village of Middleburgh is eligible for a pre-approved $10,000 NYSERDA Clean Energy Community grant, they are considering upgrading to LED streetlights and electric vehicle charging stations.

At the village's Monday night meeting, Mayor Tim Knight outlined the 11 pre-approved NYSERDA projects. They include: solar, non-road electric vehicle, electric vehicle, electric landscaping equipment, electric vehicle charging equipment, LED streetlights, Clean Energy Communities Energy studies, CEC building upgrades, building heat pump upgrades, NYPA Clean Energy Solutions upgrades, and flexible technical assistance.

At first board members were leaning just toward using some of the funds to replace the bulbs and units in the historic lights on River Street, Main Street, on the bridge and other areas to LED bulbs and units. The change would save the village money every year in electric costs.

Trustee Kevin Young said the LED change makes the most sense. It would be nice to have electric vehicle charging stations but there are questions such as locations since much of the village is in the flood zone.

Trustee Amanda Fernandez also noted that LED would save money in the long run, while there may be additional costs with charging stations. Village attorney Fred Mauhs said that might not be the case. In addition to possibly turning a profit for the village, charging stations could draw people to the village and help the local businesses.

He noted that the village approved a new energy contract at Monday's meeting that will decrease the kilowatt cost for village use to 9.755 cents, a drop of 2.4 percent. The village currently pays more than $41,000 a year in electric costs and the new rate would lower the cost to $40,562, according to Mayor Knight.

Village board members agreed to look into both the LED lights and charging stations with the NYSERDA funds.