Schuylkill County commissioners want to make hay while the sun shines.

At a public meeting Wednesday, they approved and authorized a solar lease agreement with Sun Energy Solar LLC for the rental of a 573-acre parcel of county-owned land on the west side of I-81 in Foster Township.

Sun Energy Solar will use the land for, but not limited to, the installation, operation and maintenance of a solar full photovoltaic tech system. The rent will be $100 per acre per year during the development phase, and $1,000 per acre per year upon issuance of a notice to proceed.

The initial term of the lease will be for 20 years from the commencement date; Sun Energy Solar will also be granted two five-year extensions, each with a 5 percent escalation to the current lease fee.

Frank Zukas, president of the Schuylkill Economic Development Corporation, said the property is near county airport. The land was previously mined, is “not the best piece of property,” he said.

However, it does have good southern exposure off of I-81, he said.

Sun Energy is “spending about $6 million to put together a plan to develop a large-scale solar array,” Zukas said.

“It would take about two or three years of permitting to do that during the time frame the county has the lease in place without any solar panels on it,” he said.

The lease, he said, “will yield about $57,000. Once they are operational, that’ll go up to about $573,000 annually.”

“It was a well-negotiated lease,” Lukas said.

“As it is now, the land is vacant, and because it’s county-owned, Schuylkill gets no tax revenue from it.

“It will give the county significant return if the property does get to the point of actually permitting,” Zukas said.

He said the federal government as well as Gov. Tom Wolf encourage the use of solar energy.

Sun Energy Solar, based in Cliffside Park, New Jersey, is a veteran-owned business registered in Pennsylvania. Its expertise lies in the development phase of alternative energy projects.

The company’s three founding members, Dan Somers, Dave Rovnanik and Tom McCall, have among them 10 years of experience with wind and solar power.