Newport will be getting the state’s largest municipal solar project, and one of the biggest of any kind in the state, after voters approved the project by a 652-235 vote at town meeting.
Newport officials say the 2.2 megawatt project can meet “the entire annual energy needs for Newport town and school facilities” including its three schools, library, town hall, police and fire departments.
It will consist of three sets of photovoltaic solar panels on town-owned land – next to the wastewater treatment plant, on a closed landfill and next to a pumping station.
The town meeting vote authorized the town and school district to enter into a 25-year Power Purchase Agreement with local solar developer Norwich Solar Technologies. Under the PPA, Norwich Solar will take on the more than $2 million cost of building the project and will own it, selling the power at discount rates to the town and school system, and profiting from any difference in wholesale and retail rates as well as credits for solar power.
Work should begin this summer and if all goes well, the project will be online “by mid-fall, probably,” said Paul Brown, finance director and assistant town manager.
The power purchase agreement includes a provision allowing Newport to purchase the arrays in the future.
The largest solar array in New Hampshire at the moment is a 2 megawatt system opened in Moultonborough by New Hampshire Electric Cooperative. Several other multi-megawatt systems have been proposed or are in the works.
Although large by New Hampshire solar standards, these units are small compared to traditional power plants or hydropower dams, which generally produce at least 10 megawatts of electricity.
