Claremont
The City Council last week approved taking $320,000 from the sewer enterprise fund for the purchase and construction of the array, which is projected to save the city more than $800,000 in electricity costs.
ReVision Energy, of Concord, will install the 151-kilowatt array on a parcel at the back of the treatment plant.
Vic St. Pierre, the city’s assistant public works director, said all of the electricity produced will be used on-site.
“Our peak (usage) is during the daylight so it is perfect for us,” St. Pierre said.
In a memo to the council, Finance Director Mary Walter said research determined that the treatment plant could produce all of its own electricity “and reduce our costs over the coming years as well.”
It will take 13 years for the array to pay back the initial investment, but it has a life expectancy of 40 years, City Manager Ryan McNutt said.
“The array is expected to save the city about $40,000 in energy costs after 15 years and gradually represent greater cost savings if energy rates continue to rise.” By the end of its anticipated lifespan, the company projects savings of about $836,000, McNutt said in an email.
ReVision’s Jack Ruderman told the council his company’s projections are “conservative,” assuming utility rates will rise 2.5 percent annually. In New England, rates have gone up at about 3.6 percent per year since the mid-1990s, he said.
Production will diminish over the array’s life, but it will “still be cost effective during that period,” St. Pierre said.
Solar Advocates Get Grant
In related solar news, the Claremont-based organization Action Collaborative for Transition to Sustainability Now, or ACTS Now, recently received a $1,500 grant from the New England Grassroots Environment Fund.
ACTS Now member Rebecca MacKenzie said the money will go toward developing a public education program listing the advantages of solar over fossil fuels.
“We are really pleased to have received this,” she said.
“Public meetings and other educational activities will enable the group to build the support needed to sustain the city’s commitment to renewable energy as set forth in Claremont’s Master Plan Energy Chapter,” the group said in a release announcing the grant.
ACTS Now started two years ago and meets regularly to explore topics aimed at pursuing renewable energy that is economically and ecologically sustainable.
Those interested in attending the group’s meetings should email MacKenzie at reb178@myfairpoint.net.
Patrick O’Grady can be reached at pogclmt@gmail.com
