ZELIENOPLE — A conflict over solar power may result in changes for the borough and for businesses in the future.

Baierl Ford on Route 19 installed solar panels on its building expansion. However those 50-kilowatt panels, installed by Pittsburgh-based company Scalo Solar Solutions, have not been approved by the borough and do not meet the borough’s ordinance.

The current generation limit, established in 2011, is five kilowatts for solar panels.

The panels were not in the company’s original plans, borough manager Don Pepe said.

“They never made an application in terms of applying for any solar power,” Pepe said. “They applied late for a permit to put them up, but it never made it through the system where everybody saw it because it was so late in the application.”

The borough will have to change its ordinance on solar power to approve Baierl Ford’s solar panel grid.

“We can’t say it’s OK, just do it anyway. The ordinance doesn’t allow it,” Pepe said. “It’s like working backward. Somebody should have said, ‘Hey, maybe we need to talk to the borough about this.’”

Pepe said the need for regulation comes from knowing how the solar panels affects the borough’s electrical system and rate of payback. The borough operates its own electric utility.

“This isn’t necessarily just a zoning issue,” Pepe said.

PennFuture, an environmental advocacy group, sent a letter to the borough criticizing it for its limits on solar power.

The letter lists the potential benefits of solar power, including decreased pollutants, improved energy security and job creation among others.

“It is our desire that this issue be resolved amicably,” the letter states.

The letter also states the ordinance conflicts with public interest and that there is no reason to have such a limit.

Pepe said the issue will be discussed by borough council in late June or early July, possibly including a rough draft of the new ordinance.

“We’re trying to determine if the ordinance can be changed, which I think it can,” he said. “I think council is more than willing to do that, but we need to determine what the exact number is going to be.”

Mike Carnahan, general manager for Scalo Solar Solutions, would not comment on the matter. He said the company is working with the borough on the ordinance.

A representative from Baierl Ford also did not want to comment.

Two businesses in the borough have solar panels which do meet the ordinance. They are Dilts Enterprises LLC and Jack Hockenburger Motors.