ANTRIM PLANNING BOARD
Peterborough Solar & Waste Treatment Center
Site Visit
May 31st, 2019
MINUTES
Members & Planning Staff Present:
Janet McEwen (Chair), Lynne Rosansky (Vice Chair), Mark D. Murdough (Member), John Anderson (Member), Carol Ogilvie (Planning Consultant), and Ashley Brudnick-Destromp (Assistant to Land Use Boards)
Members/Staff Absent: Mary Allen (Member), Steve MacDonald (Alternate), Neal Pattison (Member), John Robertson (ex-officio)
Others Present: Rodney Bartlett (Town Administrator), Jamie Janest (Peterborough employee), Ernie Smalley (Peterborough Employee)
CTO: The Board met at the Peterborough Solar Farm site at 10:00 AM.
I.Peterborough Solar Farm Visit
The Board met on site with Mr. Bartlett for an overview of the Peterborough solar farm, how it was started, where it is today, and where it will be in the future.
Mr. Bartlett explained how legislature keeps changing for solar, and how it was difficult for metering over 100,000 kilowatts, as opposed to residential solar. Ms. Rosansky and Mr. Bartlett had a discussion on how it has changed so much.
Mr. Bartlett went into detail about how the solar farm was funded with a power purchase agreement, which was a private and public partnership. He added that this was a great benefit, as the tax payers did not have to pay for the farm, no capital reserve needed to be touched. There was a 20 year lease of the property. He also mentioned that the ownership has since changed hands 3 times, and will probably continue to do so as it is a profit maker for the owner.
There was a discussion about how the Town of Peterborough used the sewer lagoon area to put the solar farm, and the process that happened with DES in order to properly empty and fill them.
Mr. Bartlett said the application was started in 2013, at the time there was a grant that no longer exists that was used in January of 2014. It was the 1st largest solar ray in the state, and the grant was a $1.2 million dollar grant. The sewer lagoons were then filled in with DES guidance, and by August of 2014 construction was started for the solar farm. He said they are about 3-4 years into this, there has been very little to no maintenance required, and the production and operation is very easy as it just sits there and lets the sun hit it. Chair McEwen brought up snow removal, Mr. Bartlett said none was required as the panels are black, and when the sun hits them it melts the snow.
Mr. Bartlett said that they lease the property for $1 a year, and receive a payment in liue of taxes of $1000 per acre. (There is almost 5 acres). He said it is required to be fenced in, and the panels are 36” tall, in hindsight he would prefer them to be 42”. The panels are on a 20 year lease, when the lease is up, it is on the current owner if they decide to replace the old panels with new ones, or discontinue the project. The current project saves about $18,000 a year in electric bills.
Mr. Bartlett explained that other town’s had tried this, and that the cost to interconnect made some projects fail. He went into detail about the sighting and connecting to Eversource. Overall, it was an amazing project.
Mr. Bartlett had to leave the group, but he had his staff show the Board the Waste Treatment Plant while they were there. Mr. Bartlett said before he left that the total cost of the Peterborough Waste Plant was $12 million, and that Jaffrey has one that cost $15 million because they have to have a higher flow for their collective system. He also added before he left the group that they use pellet stoves for heat through a PVC grant.
II.The Peterborough Waste Treatment Plan
Two of the workers showed the Board the treatment plant, and gave an explanation of the process, as well as answered any questions. There are 3 basins all together. 1 is from where the waste comes in, the second is where they mix in air, and the 3rd is the final product that there is a chlorine drip to before the water is sent out into the river. It takes 212 minutes from when the waste comes in until it is treated correctly to go back out. The biggest cost factor is the sludge removal. Peterborough has to send roughly 9,000 gallons of sludge a week to RI to be incinerated. Ms. Brudnick-Destromp asked if it would be more cost effective to do have an incinerator on site? The answer was that due to space, permits, and costs, it was not feasible. Peterborough spends roughly $1000 a month in the removal of sludge.
Overall, everything works and runs great and effectively. In hindsight, there are minor things that they wish had been done differently to increase the plant, and to decrease any costs. It was a very informative tour of both the solar farm, and the waste plant.
(For more information about this project, please visit the Town of Peterborough website.)
Meeting Adjourned: ~ The meeting was adjourned at 11:15 AM
Respectfully Submitted,
Ashley Brudnick-Destromp
(Assistant to Land Use Boards)
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