When it finally came down to it, Annual Town Meeting’s vote to support a home rule petition giving community shared solar systems a tax exemption—the same exemption allowed by state law for a homeowner’s rooftop system—seemed to be about more than tax parity and the Harvard Solar Garden under construction behind Sorrento’s on Ayer Road. Impassioned comments and the strong majority vote suggest something larger was at stake.
Familiar objections
For almost 45 minutes, more than 20 residents rose to ask questions or express opinions. Objections to the home rule proposal, familiar to those who have followed Harvard Solar Garden’s tortuous path toward completion, started off the discussion.
The heart of the opposition came down to impressions that the Harvard Solar Garden is a for-profit corporation comprising resident and nonresident shareholders who might be seeking an unfair advantage that would deprive the town of revenue. The Finance Committee had earlier voted against recommending the exemption.
Bruce Nickerson, an alternate member on the Finance Committee, wanted to know the connection between a participant who could sell a share of the Harvard Solar Garden to anyone in the same National Grid load zone and an exemption from property taxes in Harvard.
Jack Spero of Deerfoot Trail was particularly concerned about lost tax revenue. “This is a valuable piece of real estate up in the commercial district. We’re getting no taxes. If the solar garden wasn’t there, there’s a possibility somebody might put a supermarket or a drugstore or something, and we could possibly get some real taxes,” said Spero.
HSG member Chuck Agosta explained that the land would still be taxed, with only the solar panels and equipment exempt. The HSG shared system would be far off Ayer Road, leaving the area closest to the road available for future development, he said.
The question of nonresidents
“If a grocery store wants to build as far back as the panels are, we have written into the lease that the panels can be placed on its roof. There has been quite a bit of thinking about whether this could impact the town,” said Oak Hill resident Eric Broadbent, a member of the Harvard Energy Advisory Committee.
Former selectman Bill Johnson supported a tax exemption for Harvard residents but questioned extending it to nonresidents, a particular stumbling block for several speakers.
Board of Selectmen Chairwoman Marie Sobalvarro proposed a friendly amendment to limit participation to Harvard residents, but HSG project manager Worth Robbins declined.
“I think we have to say no. We have made every effort from the beginning to make this available to Harvard residents,” Robbins said. “Of the first 41 participants, 40 were Harvard residents or businesses and one a Bolton resident who previously lived in Harvard.” He explained that the site work and land lease made the project an expensive one, and an economy of scale was necessary to make it viable for the individual participants.
The broader eligibility may someday benefit the town. Current zoning limits collective or commercial solar arrays larger than 20 kW to the two solar overlay districts, and Harvard’s two-phased community solar project may be its first and last one. The first phase, Harvard Solar Garden I, is fully subscribed, and phase two, HSG2, is expected to close to subscribers before the fall, according to Robbins. HSG will be redoubling its efforts to sign on any other Harvard residents or businesses who want to join, Robbins said, but the window to sign up is tight.
Robbins explained that site preparation, the cost of evaluating multiple sites before the solar overlay district was created, and ground-mount versus roof-top installation made the HSG project more expensive per kilowatt than a residential or business roof-top system.
From money to principle
As other speakers came to the mic, the tenor of the debate seemed to change.
Many of the speakers supporting the petition prefaced their comments with, “I have solar panels on my roof.” Former selectman Tim Clark from Bolton Road went one step farther: “I am not a shareholder, but I do have panels installed from the solarize program.”
Clark went on to say that he and anyone else who put solar panels on their own property received tax credits and SRECs (Solar Renewal Energy Credits) available to anyone who installs solar photovoltaic panels. “The people that are here are only asking to get the same consideration that everyone else in the commonwealth is entitled to,” he said.
Broadbent outlined Harvard’s history of support for solar energy, from becoming a Green Community, to its participation in the Solarize Mass. Pilot Project, where Harvard out-installed the three other participating towns by almost two to one, to creation of first one and then a second solar photovoltaic overlay district, and organization of the solar garden for residents and small businesses that couldn’t put solar panels on their own property.
“I think Harvard needs to remain on its path of forward thinking and forward acting,” Broadbent said.
A proposed friendly amendment by Scott Road resident Laura Andrews to limit the community shared solar exemption to 20 years, identical to the residential solar exemption, was immediately accepted.
The power of green
For SusanMary Redinger of Ayer Road, the issue was “about the residents in Harvard who didn’t want to cut down trees, who couldn’t make it work on their roof, who believe in the power of solar and green and the earth.” Redinger said she “would like people to support this, make our green effort work, and have this planet sustained for our children and their children.”
“Is it the case that your financial models predict that the payback on this investment is something in the range of 17 or 20 years, or 18 years?” asked Glen Frederick of Willow Road. “Who in their right mind would invest money and expect a reasonable return in 17 or 18 years, unless there’s a damn good reason other than financial return?”
“I’m probably among the oldest people in this room,” said Jean McCroskey from Old Littleton Road. “My husband was a scientist—astronomy and weather. He was adamant about climate and I congratulate these people. … It’s a heroic thing they are doing. I hope we will encourage them in every way we can.”
Old Littleton Road resident Paul Green summed it up. “I’m in this because there’s a cost to not doing this. It’s the alternative—burning fossil fuels—that have been raising the carbon dioxide level in the atmosphere. … Look at it as a choice. We can foul our groundwater with fracking, we can send our riches to the Middle East or eventually fight a war with countries who have those natural resources, or we can convert to a solar and wind economy. That’s why I’m doing this; it’s something I can do on my own. This is our time, our place. Let’s show the state what’s possible. Let’s make this a model for Harvard, for Worcester County, for Massachusetts, and for the nation.”
The article passed with a sizable majority.
What’s next?
If approved by the state Legislature, Harvard’s home rule petition to exempt any community shared solar energy system in Harvard from local taxation for a period of 20 years would make Harvard the first community in the commonwealth to recognize community shared solar as distinct from commercial installations, and the Harvard Solar Garden (HSG) will become the state’s first community shared solar project owned by a collection of individual homeowners and small businesses.
The home rule petition defines a community shared solar system as a solar-powered system or device owned by residents or non-utility businesses that supplies not more than 125 percent of each participant’s annual energy needs and not more than 25 kilowatts. The non-utility clause prohibits a business from taking electricity credits from the garden to resell to energy customers.
HSG participants are limited to 15 kilowatts, and the average residential sign-up falls between five and seven kilowatts.
The petition will move to Senator Jamie Eldridge’s and Rep. Jennifer Benson’s offices. Both legislators worked on related solar energy regulation that passed in the Senate last year but became stalled in a conference committee after objections from some municipal officials.
Implications for the entire state
Senator Eldridge said in a phone conversation Tuesday that he hadn’t received the certified petition yet, but that he and Rep. Benson were ready to help guide it through the legislative process.
Besides taking a strong interest in making solar energy more accessible, Eldridge said, “I take it as my responsibility as a legislator to work very hard to pass all home rule petitions that are not unreasonable.”
“The Department of Energy Resources and many communities are looking to see what happens with Harvard’s community shared solar. It could have policy implications for the whole state,” Eldridge said.
Sydney Blackwell, who writes conservation and environmental topics for the Press, has a five kilowatt share in the Harvard Solar Garden. Worth Robbins, HSG program manager, is a co-owner of the Harvard Press.
