Hartland
The proposal is one of at least two solar arrays on the drawing board for the area: In December, there was brief mention at Windsor Planning Commission meetings of a 500-kilowatt solar array eyed for the former Goodyear industrial site. An application for the Goodyear property has not been filed,
Separately, at a different commission meeting, a representative from Green Lantern Group in Waterbury, Vt., said his firm was “looking at a particular property in Windsor,” though he did not identify the parcel.
Green Lantern Group has been involved in more than 50 commercial and community-scale solar projects in Vermont over the last six years, including arrays in Randolph, Royalton, Sharon and Wells River.
Messages left for Green Lantern Group were not immediately returned.
In Hartland, the Selectboard held an informational meeting earlier this month on the proposal from GroSolar of White River Junction, which is partnering with Green Mountain Power to design and construct the array.
Local zoning or planning approval is not required for the project, but Stacey said GroSolar and Green Mountain came to the board seeking its support in the form of a letter, which Stacey said would be forthcoming.
“The board was very excited.”
The array, which would include two-megawatt battery storage capacity, would be located on about 35 acres of the 110-acre parcel owned by the 10 towns of the waste district: Bridgewater, Hartland, Norwich, Pomfret, Sharon, Strafford, Thetford, Vershire, West Fairlee and Woodstock. Stacey said it would not be in the same location as a landfill that was proposed years ago but never built.
Stacey said the land would be leased for $60,000 a year for a 25-year period with two five-year extensions possible. He also said the town would receive $25,000 to $35,000 a year in municipal taxes and $20,000 a year in education taxes. Stacey said the location is “sparsely wooded with some secondary (tree) growth.” The land there “is not used and the array would not be visible,” he said.
Kristin Carlson, Green Mountain’s vice president of strategic and external affairs, called this project “innovative” because the battery storage will mean power can still be provided during outages.
Green Mountain operates a similar battery storage system at a Rutland area solar project that helps during times of peak demand and can provide power to the high school when it is used as an emergency shelter.
Carlson said the construction schedule is uncertain because the application has not been submitted, but assuming the approvals come through on a timely basis, construction could begin in the summer or fall of 2018.
Windsor Proposal
A proposed solar array on the state-owned prison property off County Road in Windsor drew stiff opposition and was eventually withdrawn in 2016. The Goodyear site, however, fits with the state’s preference for siting under Act 174.
“It encourages energy production in areas that are not good for much else,” Bob Haight, a Windsor architect and consultant for the Windsor Improvement Corp., said about Act 174. He said the concrete pad at the Goodyear site is ideal because the property is a brownfield site and also in the flood plain, which severely restricts most development. “It meets several of the preferred criteria” for a solar array site, Haight said.
Another advantage to the location is that the overgrown brush and debris, including tons of roofing material, would be removed.
“It is going to make a huge difference if that is cleaned up,” Haight said.
Despite its downtown location, the Goodyear site is “pretty invisible” but receives a lot of sunlight.
“It is a unique place to tuck this,” Haight said.
With the interest in solar sites in Windsor, and in the wake of the controversy surrounding the prison site proposal, the Planning Commission will begin work on standards for solar site selection under Act 174, which establishes new municipal and regional energy planning standards, according to commission meeting minutes.
If the town adopts the regulations as part of a “community plan aimed at meeting the state goal” of 90 percent renewables by 2050, “the town is given greater input in the review process,” December’s minutes state.
Haight also sees an obvious tie to the town’s plans to elevate and renovate two small houses in the Jarvis Street area this summer as models for neighborhood improvement. A chain-link fence separates the two areas.
“We can’t improve the riverfront without cleaning up the Goodyear site and we can’t improve the Goodyear site without improving the riverfront area,” Haight said.
Patrick O’Grady can be reached at pogclmt@gmail.com.
