Williamstown site eyed for state's largest solar farm
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This site off I-89 in Williamstown at Exit 5 is planned for the proposed solar farm. |
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By David Delcore TIMES ARGUS STAFF - Published: June 14, 2010
WILLIAMSTOWN – A Massachusetts firm is moving ahead with plans to transform a gently sloping plateau located just off Exit 5 of Interstate 89 into Vermont's largest solar farm.
The Williamstown selectboard has approved a waiver that should expedite the state Public Service Board's pending review of the project by TriLand Partners. The company will soon submit its application for the 2.1 megawatt solar farm, which will be located near the I-89-Route 64 interchange to Williamstown and Northfield.
Town Manager Garrett Earls said the selectboard's decision mirrors similar waivers that were recently approved by both the local and regional planning commissions, which sets the stage for TriLand Partners' petition for PSB approval.
If approved as proposed, nearly 9,000 solar panels – 8,948 to be exact – would be erected in 744 rectangular arrays on a high-profile, yet hard-to-see property located just off Exit 5. The project will be called the "Williamstown Solar Farm."
In documents filed with the town, Thomas Garden, managing general partner of TriLand, outlined the company's rationale for selecting what he described as a strategically located 16-acre property.
"… The Williamstown site was identified as a suitable location for the project based upon the open meadow environment that had characterized the site until recent years, the gradually sloping plateau, and the close proximity of Washington Electric Cooperative's existing three-phase service line," Garden wrote.
According to Garden, a planned interconnection with Washington Electric would be the conduit for getting the renewable energy generated by the proposed solar farm onto the state's electric grid in keeping with the Vermont Energy Efficiency and Affordability Act. The law, which was passed in 2008, established a mandate of producing 25 percent of the state's energy from renewable sources by 2025.
Documents filed with the town suggest a "nominal upgrade" to WEC's existing transmission system would be needed to accommodate the interconnection. TriLand would finance upgrading less than a mile of single-phase electric line to a new three-phase line that would connect with an existing three-phase line near at the intersection of Stone and Covey roads.
According to documents, the base of the sloping panels, which would be grouped in arrays of 12 to 24, would be roughly four feet off the ground and with the tops between eight and nine feet off the ground. However, documents indicate the topography of the site, coupled with surrounding woodlands, should mean the solar farm won't be "… highly visible from public viewing locations."
"… Views that do exist are primarily from a brief section of Route 64 adjacent to the site," Garden wrote, noting those same views currently include several abandoned trailers and other vehicles that will be removed from the property.
In addition to the nearly 9,000 solar panels, the plan also calls for the construction of two pre-engineered metal structures, each of which will house four 260-kilowatt inverters needed to convert photovoltaic electricity from direct
current to alternating current so that it can be safely conducted to the grid. The buildings, which will each be 10 feet high, nine feet wide and 36 feet long, will be located on the eastern perimeter of the field and screened in order to minimize visibility from abutters and adjacent roads, according to Garden.
The company says ornamental fencing will be installed along the Route 64 portion of the property as a security measure and the existing entrance to the property, which is part of the designated Vermont Association of Snow Travelers snowmobile trail network, will not be disrupted.
The project, which will be identified by signs on I-89 and Route 64, contemplates installation of an on-site kiosk outlining the specifics of the solar energy project and providing some history of Williamstown – a rural community that Garden noted would be on the cutting edge of Vermont's green energy initiative.
TriLand is expected to submit its formal petition to the Public Service Board for its review and approval early next month.
david.delcore@timesargus.com
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