Hopes have revived for using solar panels to provide electricity in the new elementary school. In a conference call last month, National Grid agreed an application to connect the panels with its network could move ahead without the high-priced study the company had demanded last fall. That demand, coupled with likely delays in connecting to the grid, had brought the project to a standstill.
Photovoltaic solar panels on the roof of the new Hildreth Elementary School were part of the building plans since the beginning. The proposed solar array was expected to provide about 70% of the electricity needed by the elementary school, while saving the town an estimated $353,000 over the 20-year life of the contract with Solect Energy of Hopkinton, the company that was to install, maintain, and own the solar panels on the school roof. Last September, however, National Grid notified Solect it would have to pay $9,700 for an impact study and also predicted the connection might be delayed for several years, until upgrades at the Ayer substation were complete. Those conditions made the project economically infeasible for Solect.
“I was pretty disturbed,” Ellen Leicher said, speaking of the loss of the planned solar panels on the new school.
Leicher, who serves on the Harvard Energy Advisory Committee, got in touch with state Rep. Dan Sena to see if he could help Harvard in working with National Grid. The result was a conference call last Dec. 15 with Sena, National Grid representative Scott Farrar, Joann Bissetta of the Green Communities Program in the Department of Energy Resources, and HEAC members Leicher, Brian Smith, and David Fay.
A week later Fay, who is also a member of the School Building Committee and had put in months of work on the solar project last year, got an email with good news. National Grid would allow Solect to submit a new application for interconnection, along with a $900 fee. Moreover, Fay said, National Grid promised in writing not to require the costly impact study and also said it would expedite the application.
“It looks like clear sailing,” Fay said, later adding, “It’s almost a miracle.”
In an email to the Press, Robert Kievra, a spokesperson for National Grid, offered the following explanation for the company’s change of mind: “At National Grid, we deal with thousands of projects annually, a process that entails different reviews to determine potential needs to our infrastructure system. … Since that time [last September], and with the request of the Town, National Grid conducted an analysis. Given the project’s small size, it was determined it did not require additional studies and the project can now move forward.”
Solect Energy has submitted the new application and has also applied to the Department of Energy Resources for subsidies under the state’s SMART Solar program. The Select Board unanimously approved the project last April. Town Administrator Tim Bragan said then that the only remaining step was a town meeting vote, as the agreement requires leasing town property—the school roof—to Solect Energy.
