Firm eyes Tiverton Business Park for large-scale solar

Could provide significant revenue to town, CEO says

By Bruce Burdett
Posted 7/18/19

TIVERTON — A Connecticut comnpany last week pitched a preliminary proposal to build one of more large scale solar projects at the Tiverton Industrial Park and, perhaps further in the future, atop …

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Firm eyes Tiverton Business Park for large-scale solar

Could provide significant revenue to town, CEO says

Posted

TIVERTON — A Connecticut company last week pitched a preliminary proposal to build one or more large scale solar projects at the Tiverton Industrial Park and, perhaps further in the future, atop the town landfill once it is closed.

Solomon Energy, based in Stamford, Conn., which bills itself as “Advisors for Solar, Wind, Energy Storage & Supply,” said it has taken a brief early look at the property and believes enough of it is suitable for solar that the town could expect considerable revenue from leases and possibly some sort of payment in lieu of property taxes.

Chris Whitman, the firm’s chief executive officer, said town lease revenue might run from $239,000 a year for the smallest feasible 25-acre project, to $300,000 and even $500,000 for a much larger “utility scale” project of closer to 100 acres. Final numbers would require a much more detailed analysis, he said.

One immediate hurdle, said council President Robert Coulter is the fact that, “We had a solar ordinance, we don’t have a solar ordinance now, we are working on a solar ordinance.” He later said he expects that work on the ordinance can wrap up in two or three months.

Mr. Whitman, who said his company works with 20 towns each in Connecticut and New York, and smaller numbers in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, said the Tiverton Business Park is especially intriguing because of its biggest occupant — the Tiverton Power Plant.

“While it (a solar project) would require a lot of clearing of trees at the site, it is also next to a power plant,” he said.

“One of the major factors in solar development is how close you are to a connection” to the grid — in this case, that connection is already in place via the power plant.

He said he is also aware that the property contains a fair amount of wetlands, on which solar cannot be built.

As for the landfill, that would be a longer term project — a decade or so, since once it is capped, a landfill needs time to settle. Solar panels might break if settling happened, and solar electricity and methane gas released in the years immediately after closing might be a hazardous mix

Westport recently celebrated the opening of a solar facility atop its closed landfill off Hixbridge Road.

Council member Denise deMedeiros said that this is not the first time a would-be solar developer approached the town with interest in the business (formerly the industrial) park.

She recalled that, some years ago, a couple of firms did thorough studies but concluded that the parcels the town was interested in leasing (those with less appeal for other businesses) were not well-suited to solar.

But Town Administrator Jan Reitsma said those firms had indeed been interested and had made proposals, proposals that a former town council had rejected.

“I think this approach is very interesting and potentially very beneficial for the town.” he said.

Mr. Whitman said the way his firm has worked with other towns is that it conducts a complete analysis and then solicits competitive bids from interested solar companies. The winning conpany would then build and maintain the site for a period of 20 to 25 years after which a new contract could be worked out or the panels would be dismantled.

Town Solicitor Giovani Ciccione said he would like to look further into whether the town ought to seek bids from other firms like Solomon before entering into any agreement.

And town council member Patricia Hilton said she is aware that some towns are working directly with the solar companies themselves, rather than dealing with a consultant. She said she would like to know more about whether the town would be better served to “use a service like this or go directly to bids” ourselves.

Mr. Whitman said he has found that towns don’t typically have the experience or resources to handle such work and analysis themselves.

“There are all sorts of things that, unless you are a specialist, you are not going to know. I’ve seen so many towns that have done this on their own, falling down halfway through the process.”

Mr. Coulter agreed. “I can’t imagine attempting a project like this without somebody like you,” he said, pointing to the likely added workload on town staff.

No votes were taken and both Solomon and the council agreed to provide information to one another and resume discussions in a month or so.

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