West Boylston Light Commission Plans $2.4M Solar Array | Local electric utility hopes 395 KW project will be up and running this spring
West Boylston’s Municipal Light Commission is tapping into renewable energy sources to meet consumer demand for electricity by installing a $2.4 million, 359 kilowatt solar generation project in the spring, according to H. Bradford White, manager of the town’s electric utility.
“The Light Commission’s philosophy is to do whatever we can to lessen our dependency on foreign oil, reduce our carbon footprint as much as possible and explore green energy,” White said.
The proposed solar array will produce 440,000 kilowatt hours a year and be located at the corner of Shrewsbury Street and Paul X. Tivnan Road, which is town-owned land. The light commission must get approval from the Zoning Board of Appeals. Once that is granted and the snow melts, the system should be installed in the early spring, White said.
“The cost of solar power is coming down. It’s certainly not the cheapest system, but over the long run there is a 20-year payback…” he said.
The utility is also keeping it local. It will buy the solar equipment from Marlborough-based Evergreen Solar. The town will also apply for state and federal tax incentives for building renewable energy plants, White said.
Going Green
The solar project is not the town’s first foray into renewable energy. It is a member of the Berkshire Wind Power Cooperative with 13 other communities and the Massachusetts Municipal Wholesale Electric Co. (MMWEC), which is putting in a 15-megawatt wind power project on Brodie Mountain in Western Massachusetts. The project is expected to be finished in the fall of 2010.
The cooperative is a bit ahead of the state in the wind power department. Gov. Deval Patrick last week announced a goal of developing 2,000 megawatts of wind power capacity by 2020 as a way to increase renewable energy sources. The state estimates that the new wind power goal would meet 10 percent of the state’s current electric load and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 3.1 million tons.
There are nine wind turbines already up and running in Massachusetts with a capacity of 100 kilowatts or more, for a total generating capacity of 6.6 megawatts. There are another 300 wind turbines that could generate 6.6 megawatts, either in the planning or permitting stages.
Ashburnham, Boylston, Groton, Holden, Paxton, Shrewsbury, Sterling and Templeton are also members of the wind cooperative.
The wind cooperative communities and the towns of Hudson, Littleton and Princeton are MMWEC members.
MMWEC is a nonprofit, political subdivision of the state that can issue tax-exempt revenue bonds to finance ownership interests in energy facilities and provide other services to utilities.
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