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Plans for Manchester, N.H., Solar Array Project Move Forward

A committee on Monday approved a memorandum of understanding, authorizing American Capital Energy to plan and arrange financing for a solar array at the city's landfill, along with smaller arrays on the roofs of selected buildings.

An aldermen’s committee has given the green light to a company that wants to build a sprawling solar panel array at the city landfill that could become the largest such project in the state.

The aldermen’s Special Committee on Energy Contracts and Related Activities on Monday approved a memorandum of understanding with American Capital Energy authorizing the company to plan and arrange financing for the landfill project, along with smaller arrays on the roofs of the Municipal Complex and selected school buildings.

All together, the projects could generate 3.2 megawatts, six times the power of the largest existing solar panel array in the state, at the Manchester-Boston Regional Airport. In July, town officials in Peterborough approved construction of a solar panel installation at its wastewater treatment plant that is projected to generate slightly less than 1 megawatt. (By most estimates, a megawatt can power between 200-500 homes.)

The landfill array would be built over the former city dump, a 93-acre site between Dunbarton Road and Interstate 293 in the northwest corner of the city.

American Capital Energy would be responsible for all the costs associated with planning and building the facilities; in turn it would be allowed to sell the energy harnessed by the panels on the market. The city would look to be paid $100,000 a year for use of the landfill property and to defray at least 15 percent of its electricity costs at the municipal buildings where panels are placed, according to city Facilities Manager Kevin O’Maley.

Mayor Ted Gatsas strongly backs the plan.

“Although this will not be a windfall for the city, there will be a modest financial benefit for us,” Gatsas wrote in a letter to the aldermen.

More important, Gatsas continued, the project would put Manchester “in a leadership position for these type of projects. We took the lead on LED street lighting. Our leadership in these areas of technology will benefit the city and it will eventually help other communities follow us.”

The city is replacing all of its streetlights with efficient LED bulbs.

Key to the project is winning a $2.3 million state grant funded through the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, according to company officials who spoke at Monday’s committee meeting.

Hank Ouimet, the managing director of Renewable Energy, which is working with American Capital Energy on the proposal, said his team had already met with state environmental officials on the landfill project.

“It’s a very suitable site,” Ouimet said. “There’s not another landfill project in New Hampshire at the moment.”

American Capital Energy has built and managed numerous solar projects across the country.

PSNH was involved in a similar plan to build a solar array at the landfill in 2010, but it did not come to fruition.

The aldermen on Monday had a mostly favorable response to the proposal.

Alderman-At-Large Dan O’Neil stressed that the city was not entering a contract with the company and that supporting the MOU did not obligate the city to move forward with the plan.

Ward 12 Alderman Keith Hirschmann asked about the possibility of solar glare, particularly for drivers on I-293.

Ouimet said drivers going north would not be able to see the panels and southbound drivers would only see the back of the installation. He added that the panels are designed to be “anti-glare.”

Due to glare problems, the solar array at the Manchester airport had to be repositioned earlier this year at a cost of $1.9 million.

If the financing and necessary approvals are secured, company officials said work on the landfill project could begin in nine months to a year.

The full board of aldermen is expected to approve the MOU at its meeting Tuesday.

©2014 The New Hampshire Union Leader (Manchester, N.H.)