With Permission
First Selectman Jamie Cosgrove, along with a group of town officials and an attorney who specializes in renewable energy are planning to head for Ecology Park this morning, seeking to set in motion a process to create renewable energy from solar panels. This three-acre site is located on the town’s former landfill and is bathed in sun. If the town succeeds, the winner is the taxpayer whose utility bills will be reduced.
“We are taking the old landfill to its next life,” said Dan McGowan, who manages the town’s Solid Waste and Recycling Department. McGowan said the proposed solar panel site is located on the south side of the former 39-acre landfill near Ecology Park.
State Rep. Lonnie Reed (D‑Branford), who co-chairs the legislature’s Energy & Technology Committee, remembers when she unveiled a series of energy bills on the floor of the House, including one that gave cities and towns the opportunity to rent solar panels to harness renewable energy. Reed said when she argued for these bills, including the state’s Municipal Virtual Net Metering Program, a bill she wrote, she often envisioned Ecology Park. “I could see our land,” she said in an interview yesterday.
With Permission
Today town officials and possible vendors for the project are scheduled to take their first official site walk to Ecology Park to inspect the land, once part of the town’s now closed 39-acre dump. Last Friday Cosgrove announced he had hired the law firm of Murtha Cullina LLP to assist the town in taking the legal steps required to erect a large-scale solar array.
Attorney Paul R. Michaud, who chairs Murtha Cullina’s Renewable Energy Practice Group, will join town officials on the site walk, a prelude to developing a plan for the solar project that would involve Eversource, formerly known as Connecticut Light & Power Company. If this project succeeds, the town could sell the solar array’s renewable energy credits to the utility company, which in turn would reduce fees for consumers. The law firm would also assist in negotiating contracts associated with the project.
Mitch Gross, a spokesman for Eversource, told the Eagle that applicants and their applications are chosen for the metering program “based on the information provided.”
“The town has considered this initiative in the past but it has never materialized,” Cosgrove said in a prepared statement. He said the project would involve a “very complicated and technical process” including local and state approvals, but that it could eventually result in lower utility payments for taxpayers.
Town Engineer Janice Plaziak told the Eagle that some years ago the town’s Solid Waste Commission had planned to place a solar array on the landfill. First Selectman Unk DaRos looked at the adjacent Tabor property for renewable energy, including solar, wind and geothermal energy, she said. None of those plans materialized.
McGowan, the solid waste and recycling manager, told the Eagle that these three-plus acres are perfect for solar panel use. He and Reed both said a very sunny exposure is obviously essential. Reed says the panels need to be situated in isolated spaces, away from the general population.
The site walk will produce the information necessary for those wishing to produce a Request for Proposal (RFP), a process designed to select the best vendor for the project. The RFP must be submitted by March 27. After the best RFP is determined, others steps need to be taken to make this site a viable energy operator. McGowan believes the project may be completed by spring 2016 or perhaps a little later.
“First we developed passive recreation, then Ecology Park and now renewable energy. It is a wonderful transition into a new aspect of life, McGowan said in an interview.
The panels would be placed below a slope and would not affect views, he said.
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Bravo Loni! However, I find the attempt to conceal the solar panels from public view is counter to their purpose. Put them where they are most useful as evidence that we are trying to use less electric power.