Bedford updates solar approval requirements

BEDFORD, N.Y. - Solar-panel arrays up to 25 kilowatts now qualify for Bedford’s fast-track approval process under changes that more than double permitted output.

The Town Board updated requirements to meet the state’s eight-year-old Unified Solar Permit at its Tuesday, Oct. 21, meeting. Until the board’s action, solar arrays had been limited to 12-kW output or less.

The Building Department began doing checklist-only approvals on the smaller systems in 2017, bypassing costlier, lengthier quality controls needed to obtain a building permit, required for larger installations.

But solar panels have become smaller and more efficient, Mark Thielking, director of energy and sustainability, told the board’s Oct. 7 meeting, allowing more-robust systems to qualify for a fast-track OK.

Bedford Hills resident David Pogue, addressing the earlier board via Zoom, said he “had to go through the [longer] special permitting process” when he recently installed a 21-kW solar array.

Still, said the technology writer and correspondent for CBS Sunday Morning, the effort was worth it for the savings. He displayed reductions in his monthly utility bill, most often running to hundreds of dollars.

“During the summer, we’re giving [a monthly average of 273.8 kilowatt hours of electricity] back to the community,” Pogue said.

Over the last 10 years, Thielking said in his presentation, the average size of solar installations in Bedford has been 15 kW, almost all of them (97 percent) mounted on rooftops.

The fee will be $300 for a rooftop solar array, $400 for a ground-mounted system.