Erie Solar Project

About Cypress Creek

Cypress Creek Renewables is powering a sustainable future, one project at a time. We develop, finance, own and operate utility-scale and distributed facilities across the United States. With 11GW of solar developed and more than 3.7GW under management, Cypress Creek is a leading solar and storage energy company. Our Operations and Maintenance Services division is one of the largest operators of solar power in the country.

Cypress Creek Values

• Care – We take care to be safe. We care for the well-being of our team, our communities and the environment and we carefully deploy our resources.

• Courage – We take smart risks, we speak up and we make decisions. We learn and constantly improve.

• Creativity – We innovate to create valuable projects. We embrace new ideas and find solutions to hard problems.

• Conviction – We are committed to making the world cleaner and healthier. We do the right thing when our values are challenged.

• Collaboration – We come from different backgrounds to do our work together as one team.

Erie Solar - Project Overview

• Nameplate Capacity: 20MW AC

• Fenced Area: 120 acres

• Solar Area: 89 acres

• Service Volume: Equivalent to 3,300 single-family homes

• Total Investment: $20 million

• Utilities Required: No additional services needed

• Lifetime Tax Contribution to Girard Township: Estimated $1.6 million in lifetime tax revenues, nearly ten times more compared to the current land use.

  Jobs: Estimated 28 full time jobs to be created during construction 

Erie Solar is in the planning stage of development, or Phase 2 in the graphic below. If the project receives approval, it will proceed with securing the rest of the required permits before moving on to the construction phase in spring of 2022.

Solar Farm Development

Signing Agreements with landowners

Planning the Development

Building the Farm – EPC

Commissioning the Site

Energizing the Site

Finishing the Project

Benefits of Erie Solar

Erie Solar will produce clean energy that will help the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania meet its clean energy goals. As one of the nation’s leading solar energy companies, Cypress Creek is committed to increasing access to low-cost solar energy while also creating jobs and generating local revenue.

• Economic Investment and Environmental Improvement

  • For the next 40 years, this land will remain protected from other types of development and can be returned to its original state to be farmed in the future, should the landowner so choose.

  • Once the project is in service, there will be no change in traffic congestion, noise, emissions, odors, and demand on public services from the land for decades to come.

  • Based on guidance from the state and the Army Corps of Engineers, the Erie Solar project will incorporate buffers of 150 feet from the streams on site, and 25 feet from all connected wetlands. Erie Solar will also add a voluntary 20-foot setback from other wetlands on site as a water quality buffer. These areas will be able to grow untouched without pesticides/herbicides.

  • The project will make Route 8 safer by slowing the wind and snow drifts that blow through the open fields in the winter.

  • The steel piles on which the solar panels are mounted will be driven only up to 12 feet in the ground.

  • Cypress Creek expects to invest approximately $20 million into the project. Through this investment, Girard can also expect up to 28 full-time equivalent (FTE) local construction and installation jobs, and additional tax revenue over the lifetime of the project.

Solar Components and Decommissioning (End of Life)

Solar Module

Generate DC electricity from sunlight

DC/AC Inverter

Converts direct to alternating current

Module Racking

Mounts modules in array to the ground

Combiner Box

Low-voltage DC electricity is fed through cables from each module row to a combiner box

Monitoring System

Meters and gauges to measure and report system preferences

Battery System

Lithium ion batteries store the suns energy for use throughout the day

The Erie solar project energy facility is a temporary land use, and all equipment and infrastructure is designed, manufactured, and installed to be temporary and easily removable at the end of the useful life of the facility. The facility will be removed at the expense of the project owner. Please note, Erie Solar does not plan to include battery energy storage for this project.

Download Documents Specific to Erie and Cypress Creek Renewables

• Site Plan or preliminary map

• Solar Jobs Census

• General FAQ

• General Technical Memo

Contact Information