A photo voltaic contractor is proposing to lease 5 acres at George J. Mitchell Field for 35 years to put in a neighborhood photo voltaic farm.
ReVision Energy has workplaces in Montville and Portland, Maine, in addition to areas in New Hampshire and Massachusetts. An organization consultant will make a presentation to the Harpswell Select Board on Thursday, June 6.
“They need this proposal to be on the market for the neighborhood to consider and for the city to think about,” Town Administrator Kristi Eiane informed the Select Board on May 23.
The firm would pay the city $7,500 for a five-year lease choice on the positioning, in accordance with its proposal. If it continues to lease, it should pay $8,000 within the first yr, with 2% will increase annually. The city will obtain a complete of $407,456 if the farm operates for 35 years, or $263,742 over 25 years.
The 1.25-megawatt farm would offset the vitality use of 219 houses or 1,531,250 kilos of carbon dioxide per yr, in accordance with the proposal.
At the May 23 assembly, the Select Board agreed to ask two city committees, the Mitchell Field Committee and the Energy and Technology Committee, to overview the proposal.
If the Select Board advances the ReVision Energy proposal, Harpswell voters can have the ultimate say. “It has to go to a Town Meeting earlier than the city can agree on something,” Eiane mentioned.
In 2016, ReVision Energy proposed a 95.4-kilowatt photo voltaic array at Mitchell Field, in accordance with a letter from an organization government to the town’s code enforcement officer. At the time, ReVision proposed an influence buy settlement, below which Harpswell would buy energy from the array for six years. After six years, the town has the choice of shopping for the array or persevering with to purchase the facility.
The city by no means acted on the proposal, in accordance with Eiane.
The 2019 replace of the Mitchell Field Master Plan mentions the potential of a photo voltaic array on the property. According to the plan, the Select Board instructed the Energy and Technology Committee “to discover a appropriate web site on town-owned land for the set up of a photo voltaic array to supply for {the electrical} wants of all buildings within the City.”
At the time, the Energy and Technology Committee and the Mitchell Field Committee supported a Mitchell Field web site. But in 2021, the city as an alternative selected to purchase credit from a neighborhood photo voltaic farm in one other neighborhood.
“This path was chosen within the first plan to create a photo voltaic array owned by the town due to its simplicity and adaptability: it isn’t mandatory to construct and keep our personal photo voltaic array, and the variety of credit could be restricted -or to replicate precise use,” the Energy and Technology Committee mentioned within the city’s annual report.
Mitchell Field covers 120 acres with half a mile of waterfront. The federal authorities moved the previous US Navy gasoline depot to the city in 2001.
