NEW HAVEN — A Vermont solar company is looking at a New Haven farm as the location for one of the state’s largest solar projects.
The White River Junction based solar developer and installer, groSolar, told the New Haven Selectboard on Tuesday it hopes to build two 5-megawatt solar arrays in the town. One, at the Sawyer Farm north of Vermont 17, would be about 40 acres in size.
Rod Viens, executive vice president for operations for groSolar, said the project would provide property tax revenue without putting any demands on municipal services, and preserve agricultural land until the project is decommissioned. And he said the project will generate renewable electricity for under 12 cents per kilowatt hour.
“We have not done anything. And we are not going to do anything unless we have the support from the town because you have a policy and we respect that,” he said.
During his presentation, some residents voiced their concerns with the aesthetic impacts of solar arrays on the agrarian landscape, calling solar projects an “eyesore” and an “intrusion.” One resident compared solar farms to “ugly” billboards that have been banned in Vermont.
Jess Whitney of New Haven was among the residents most concerned with the project. She said she was on vacation for two weeks and found a letter notifying her about a separate proposed solar farm located adjacent to her home and in the view of a down-sloping field.
“My property is going to be devalued,” Whitney said.
Viens handed out maps of the proposed project sites — one on the Sawyer Farm and another on U.S. 7. Residents studied the maps, pointing to locations they knew intimately and debating with their neighbors over the locations.
Viens said the two locations were selected because they are close to existing three-phase power lines. The property owners also contacted the company.
The New Haven town plan supports locally supplied renewable energy, but suggests projects be less than 300 kilowatts in size — about 16 times smaller than groSolar’s proposal. Nonetheless, some residents said they would be willing to consider the projects if they are sited according to town setback and screening guidelines.
Rep. Harvey Smith, R-New Haven, said other solar farm projects in New Haven have received a state permit before the town even knew about them. He said many concerned citizens have told him this is not what they had envisioned for solar developments.
“Even people that have been very strong supporters are asking the question, ‘Did we get it right?’” he said.
Some residents said they appreciated that groSolar spoke with the town before seeking a state permit. The company will now speak with the town planning commission about the project.
“That’s always a good approach,” Smith said. “And in the past, this hasn’t happened.”
The company, founded in 1998, develops, builds, operates and maintains solar projects. The company sold its residential solar division in 2010 and has since focused on utility scale projects.
Viens said the company plans to build three to four 5-megawatt projects in Vermont, aiming to finish construction before December 2016. The federal solar Investment Tax Credit (ITC) is set to drop in 2017. However, Viens said some big solar developers can build projects without any incentives.
The company has already built a 2.5 megawatt solar farm in New Haven. The Open View solar farm is privately owned by Cross Pollination, Inc.
Viens said groSolar wants to use single-axis trackers to allow the project to capture the sun at the shoulders of the day, particularly in the early evening when Vermont’s energy consumption is still near its peak.
He said the projects will be in the ground for about 20 to 30 years. The company is required to maintain a decommissioning fund to “put the land exactly the way is was” before the project was installed, Viens said. He said for another 3-megawatt project in Rutland, the company proposes maintaining a $140,000 decommissioning fund.
“If you have a parcel of land that is being hayed or it’s cornfield, yes, it goes out of production for those 25 to 30 years. But it’s also preserved for the next generation. It’s available for farming down the road,” he said.
Tom Sawyer of West Rutland asked groSolar to develop the project on his parents’ farm in New Haven. He said his father, Ken, purchased the farm when he was 14 years old.
“This provides a way to keep the farm in the family,” Sawyer said.
