Last week, the town Selectboard voted 4-1 not to accept a proposal by AllEarth Renewables Inc. to install and maintain 14 solar trackers on Thompson's Point. That vote followed multiple hearings and comments from residents.
Solar Charlotte LLC filed a notice this month at the Charlotte town offices stating that it expects to petition the state Public Service Board for a Certificate of Public Good for its project. If its solar field is built, Solar Charlotte's 2.2-megawatt array could at peak times generate at least twice as much electricity as the 1-megawatt Ferrisburgh Solar Farm near U.S. 7 in Vergennes, paperwork states. It would occupy 15 acres of open pasture with 670 feet of frontage on Hinesburg Road and would be adjacent to the west side of the Sheehan Green residential development, according to the plans.
The site is a portion of a 46.2-acre tract owned by the Testamentary Trust of Clark Hinsdale Jr. with Clark Hinsdale III as trustee. Hinsdale III is an owner of Nordic Holsteins LLC and other Charlotte properties.
Sheehan Green resident Tom Baginski said he thinks it is a big deal for the neighborhood and he wants to get together to share opinions with neighbors before deciding whether it would be a positive addition.
The notice states that each array would have multiple individual photovoltaic panels of about 280 watts each. The net energy output would be 2.85 million kilowatt-hours a year or, it estimates, about the electric consumption of 315 homes.
The solar arrays' base would be four feet above the ground and have a maximum height of 10 feet. The height would allow vegetation to be routinely mowed.
The state permitting process requires an advance notice to the town and regional planning commissions and certain other groups at least 45 days before a formal filing with the Public Service Board.
The Planning Commission has the right to send recommendations to the Public Service Board until seven days before the petition is filed and again for 45 days after its filing if the petition changes.
Solar Charlotte LLC is a firm established by American Capital Energy Inc., a Massachusetts-based solar engineering, procurement and construction contractor and solar developer. The pre-petition letter signed by American Capital Energy President Tom Hunton states that its development teams include Vermont companies in the environmental, legal and engineering fields. When possible, Charlotte contractors would work on the project.
The Planning Commission will meet at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Charlotte Town Hall, and the solar project review is scheduled for 8 p.m.
SOURCE: http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20111129/NEWS02/111290302/Developer-proposes-345-solar-units-Charlotte-pasture?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|FRONTPAGE|s
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