Published: 6/26/2018 11:39:55 PM
Hopkinton is closer to getting one of the largest solar projects in New Hampshire after Granite Apollo, a solar-power development company, signed a letter of intent with the towns to develop a 17-megawatt project at the landfill it shares with Webster.
The project is proposed for the Hopkinton/Webster Municipal Solid Waste Site, approximately 133 acres of land off of East Penacook Road in Hopkinton that includes a capped landfill.
The next step is to negotiate a long-term lease agreement for the site. If that happens, a lease option will be on the March 2019 Town Meeting Warrant in both Hopkinton and Webster.
The proposal would produce enough electricity to power approximately 4,500 homes.
Granite Apollo is a fairly new development company focused on large-scale solar energy projects in New England. It recently announced plans to develop a 10-megawatt solar project in Londonderry on the Auburn Road Superfund Site.
Closed landfills are becoming a popular location for solar farms largely because the land can’t be used by much else since buildings can’t be put atop a capped landfill.
Under the proposal, Granite Apollo would lease the land from the towns to develop the solar project, then negotiate a power purchase agreement under which it would sell the electricity within the New England power market.
(David Brooks can be reached at 369-3313 or dbrooks@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @GraniteGeek.)