When the town of Lowell voted on a commercial wind project back in 2010, resident Doug Manning supported the plan.
Green Mountain Power wanted to install 20-or-so wind turbines on Lowell Mountain, and the Northeast Kingdom town approved the proposal in a resounding 342-114 vote.
As an electrician, Manning says he was interested in the technology, but the tax incentives, which cover most of the town’s municipal costs at this point, also encouraged him to support the plan.
But Manning feels very differently about a new large-scale solar array that developers say would bring about 15,000 solar panels to a field across the street from the town’s elementary school.
“I think the town is up in arms about this situation because it’s right in the middle of our town,” Manning said on a recent cold and snowy afternoon when developers and a hearing officer from the Public Utility Commission were doing a site visit. “It’s just not a good place for it.”
About 20 Lowell residents braved the frigid temperatures and trudged across the snow-covered field to meet with Public Utility Commission hearing officer Gregg Faber, and ask questions about the permitting process.
The Lowell select board voted unanimously against the project, and now it’s asking voters to approve spending up to $50,000 on attorneys to fight the project during the state permitting process.
Residents will vote Dec. 19 on whether to allocate the money.
“I don’t really feel it’s fair for our town to attempt to do this on our own,” said Lowell Select Board Chair Jennifer Blay. “None of this makes sense to us. None of us have the knowledge we need to do this. We’re actually looking to spend money we don’t have in our budget because we don’t budget for things like this.”
It will be up to the Vermont Public Utility Commission to decide if the solar project serves the people of Lowell, and the state of Vermont.
But the select board thinks hiring lawyers could help the town of about 900 people make its case during the Public Utility Commission hearings.
“I don’t really feel it’s fair for our town to attempt to do this on our own."Jennifer Blay, Lowell Select Board
Blay says the project runs afoul of Lowell’s town plan by taking agricultural land out of production. And unlike the wind project, this one wouldn’t bring additional tax revenue to the town.
“We’re already producing quite a bit of power,” Blay said about the wind towers, which provide power to more than 20,000 homes in a town of about 400 homes. “We’re not against solar. We’re not against wind, but something of this size doesn’t fit with where we live and how we live.”
The solar developer, MHG Solar, wants to install the almost 5 megawatt project on a little more than 30 acres of land right along Route 100, in a field that has been used for agricultural purposes.
The field is close to an electric substation that has been upgraded to handle the load coming off the wind towers.
So MHG Solar co-founder Thomas Hand says it’s actually a really good place to site a large-scale solar array.
“This is a good site,” Hand said. “Vermont has a renewable energy standard that says you need to get a certain amount of power from renewables, some of it has to be in-state, and so this project is helping the (Vermont Electric Co-op) meet that requirement.”
MHG solar has already built 25 solar projects, and Hand said his company is ready to make its case before the Public Utility Commission.
Part of the proposal, he said, includes installing fencing and planting trees to shield the panels from public view.
“The best we can do is try to reduce impacts,” Hand said. “Ultimately if you’re going to build solar projects they have to go somewhere. If you’re going to have power, then you’re going to have to have power plants.”
The project is on a tight timeline.
Developers hope to have a permit in hand before the spring, to begin construction when winter ends.
