JEFFERSON COUNTY, Pa. (WTAJ) — On Thursday, December 1st, Senator Joe Pittman (R-41) and Representative Brian Smith (R-66) announced that Punxsutawney would be receiving one million dollars in state funding as part of the State Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program (RACP)
Saving electricity and saving money is a priority for the Punxsutawney Borough. Officials will spend the one million dollars in a two-phase plan.
“The plan is to utilize the money to develop a solar panel farm,” Borough Manager Toby Santi said. “We have 63 acres in town here and will utilize a good 10-11 acres.”
Santi said they’ll put in approximately 2,863 panels which will absorb the entire electricity consumption for the year which could save the borough approximately $213,000.
“We’re looking to gain revenue back to the Borough which can be utilized for other projects that are so sorely needed for this town,” Santik said.
Some of these projects include the community pool, sidewalks, and streetlights. For now, the solar plant will be directly used by the borough.
“It’s strictly for Borough entities and that will be our sewage plant that consumes an enormous amount of electricity,” Santik said. “We’ll also utilize it for our traffic lights, street lights, the building you’re standing in and we have another building for the public works crew,” Santik said.
Get daily updates on local news, weather and sports by signing up for the WTAJ Newsletter.
Toby says the borough must get a bid first and hopes the project will launch this spring.