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LAKEWOOD, NY — One hundred and eight solar panels line the roof of the Lakewood Volunteer Fire Department.

Solar Liberty in Williamsville approached the department five years ago with the idea, because the owners of the energy company, Adam and Nathan Rizzo, grew up in nearby Jamestown.

"Their passion for just making solar viable and feasible for everybody was really the goal, and then NYSERDA's incentives came along and made it possible for them to do something like this. They jumped right at the opportunity,“ said Bridget Reagan, Solar Liberty commercial consultant.

The $192,000 project was funded in part with a grant from NYSERDA as well as Solar Liberty.

The panels were installed in late fall and were operational in December. Electric usage for the Fire Hall has already been reduced by a third.

"We're seeing some savings already and December is actually the month with the least amount of sunshine and the least amount of light, so it'll be interesting to see how it plays out over the summer," said David Wordelmann, Lakewood mayor.

The fire hall's utility bill is typically around $500 a month and Wordelmann adds the solar panels will not only reduce costs, but will also bring in income.

"They will pay us for whatever electricity we generate and don't use ourselves, so it'll come back as income to us. National Grid will actually pay us for generating electricity," said Wordelmann.

"Thirty-five percent offset by just no longer purchasing power from the grid, they're going to be saving 1,500 dollars every year, which is quite a bit of savings over the life of the system," said Reagan.

Chief Kurt Hallberg of the Lakewood Fire Department hopes the money savings from the solar paneling will help the department buy new equipment.

"It'll help us to be able to balance our money in a better way so that we'll have equipment and supplies available in other areas rather than spending them on utilities. Different things like air packs or pagers or some amount, some high dollar amount items. Sometimes it takes a few years to be able to get the things that we need," said Hallberg.

With the savings they’ve witnessed, Wordelmann says the village is hoping to put solar panels on other buildings in the future.