To the Editor:
Update on Benson Brook Community Solar Garden on the Landfill
Two years ago, Marion’s Energy Management Committee proposed using the flat area on top of the town’s landfill for a solar array to provide clean electricity power to town residents and small business owners. A Municipal Solar Overlay District zoning change was overwhelmingly approved at Town Meeting to permit this project.
In May 2014, the Selectmen appointed an EMC subcommittee to draft a request for proposals from solar developers. The proposal from My Generation Energy was evaluated as the most responsive and recommended to the Board of Selectmen for acceptance. Early on in the detailed design, however, we learned that Eversource (formerly NSTAR) could not provide a grid connection for the project without adding capacity to the Mattapoisett substation that serves the site on Benson Brook Road. Marion’s project, along with several larger Mattapoisett solar farm projects, will have to share the cost of the substation upgrades. A formal application to Eversource has been submitted by My Generation Energy and engineering drawings have been furnished. All the projects are waiting for Eversource to assess the substation revisions and assign the costs proportionately to the projects that are involved. It may take another year for the grid connection to be approved before the project can move forward.
Once Eversource approves the grid connection, My Generation Energy will still have to secure a Post Closure Permit from Massachusetts DEP for the proposed work on the capped landfill, submit for the Planning Board’s Minor Site Plan Review, and obtain a building permit before construction can proceed.
The finished project will net meter clean, renewable, solar power to homes and small businesses at lower cost than standard rates, and the Town will receive annual lease payments for the use of its capped landfill. This project will be a win-win for residents who choose to participate in the solar cooperative and for the town as a whole. Marion residents who would like to use solar power but cannot or don’t want to install panels on their own property may contact the undersigned for further information.
Submitted by:
Bill Saltonstall, Jennifer Francis, & Norm Hills
Members of Energy Management Committee.
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