With solar energy, it seems, everybody wins — if the conditions are right.
State and federal subsidies make big bucks for developers, landowners get cheaper electricity and in the end, everybody gets clean energy.
But not-in-my-backyard arguments from Holliston residents this month slowed a Bullard Street project, even as the landowner claims the project won’t harm the property.
So what makes a good location for the arrays of solar panels that can generate considerable electricity?
Most companies say individuals, businesses, cities and towns come to them, wanting the money-saving technology on their roofs, but companies said before saying yes, they consider several factors.
“Direct sunlight is what you need for solar,” said Michelle Waldgeir, vice president of marketing at Astrum Solar, a company doubling the size of its Hopkinton office, thanks to booming business.
Officials at Ameresco, the MetroWest company installing panels on Natick schools and the senior center, said they need structurally sound roof space without a lot of interfering equipment or shade.
Christopher Bailey, director of project development at My Generation Energy on the Cape, said proximity to heavy-duty power lines is also important.
“What we look for is a site where we can have 10 acres of flat ground that is near 3-phase power,” he said.
Bailey said the South Dennis company is hunting for good MetroWest locations.
Brian Kopperl, CEO of the company proposing the 7-acre Holliston farm, said solar power companies want to set up shop near utility lines.
“NStar interconnection is huge,” the Renewable Energy Massachusetts executive said about the Bullard Street location, whose northwest corner has a hook-up.
Kopperl said power line rights of way and land around power lines is typically too small or slender for the seven to 10 acres companies want.
Solar companies consider tax rules when looking for good locations, saying many shop around to local assessors, said Pam Davis, chairwoman of the Education Committee at the Mass. Association of Assessing Officers.
Holliston assessors in the coming months will determine how to tax the potential Bullard Street solar farm, which would be built on tax-exempt property.
Natick Director of Assessment Jan Dangelo said the Ameresco panels aren’t assessed or taxed, since they perch on tax-exempt public buildings.
“Whether a community taxes solar PV (photo-voltaic) does not affect our decision of where to locate a solar PV system,” said Jim Walker, Ameresco’s director of solar PV grid-tie projects.
The company on Tuesday will cut ribbons at the Natick projects, which total 417,000 square feet and are scheduled to generate 1 megawatt of electricity, to be sold to the town at half of what it pays now.
The Metropolitan Area Planning Council last week named Ameresco its regional energy services company, enabling communities including Framingham, Ashland, Wayland and Sudbury to immediately enter energy savings contracts with the company.
But Tioga Energy, a San Francisco company with panels on BJ’s Wholesale Club stores in Leominster and North Attleborough, said local taxes are very important.
“We’re basically looking for rooftops or areas adjacent to buildings that are on the same parcel as companies that we’re going to be selling electricity to,” said Marc Roper, the company’s vice president of sales and marketing.
Roper said if Tioga builds panels on a taxable property, such as a BJ’s, and sells the energy to BJ’s, Tioga doesn’t pay property taxes.
But he said panels on tax-exempt or public property are taxable.
“That is a situation where the solar power plant is not tax-exempt,” he said.
Overall, solar companies said generous state government incentives make anywhere in Massachusetts a good location for solar.
“The biggest driver is just that the Massachusetts team, both the legislators and the other policy makers, have just made solar so attractive and affordable that it just makes good economic sense,” said Michelle Waldgeir, Astrum Solar vice president of marketing.
SOURCE: http://www.ktvb.com/news/local/Should-HOAs-regulate-solar-panel-use-137364383.html
State and federal subsidies make big bucks for developers, landowners get cheaper electricity and in the end, everybody gets clean energy.
But not-in-my-backyard arguments from Holliston residents this month slowed a Bullard Street project, even as the landowner claims the project won’t harm the property.
So what makes a good location for the arrays of solar panels that can generate considerable electricity?
Most companies say individuals, businesses, cities and towns come to them, wanting the money-saving technology on their roofs, but companies said before saying yes, they consider several factors.
“Direct sunlight is what you need for solar,” said Michelle Waldgeir, vice president of marketing at Astrum Solar, a company doubling the size of its Hopkinton office, thanks to booming business.
Officials at Ameresco, the MetroWest company installing panels on Natick schools and the senior center, said they need structurally sound roof space without a lot of interfering equipment or shade.
Christopher Bailey, director of project development at My Generation Energy on the Cape, said proximity to heavy-duty power lines is also important.
“What we look for is a site where we can have 10 acres of flat ground that is near 3-phase power,” he said.
Bailey said the South Dennis company is hunting for good MetroWest locations.
Brian Kopperl, CEO of the company proposing the 7-acre Holliston farm, said solar power companies want to set up shop near utility lines.
“NStar interconnection is huge,” the Renewable Energy Massachusetts executive said about the Bullard Street location, whose northwest corner has a hook-up.
Kopperl said power line rights of way and land around power lines is typically too small or slender for the seven to 10 acres companies want.
Solar companies consider tax rules when looking for good locations, saying many shop around to local assessors, said Pam Davis, chairwoman of the Education Committee at the Mass. Association of Assessing Officers.
Holliston assessors in the coming months will determine how to tax the potential Bullard Street solar farm, which would be built on tax-exempt property.
Natick Director of Assessment Jan Dangelo said the Ameresco panels aren’t assessed or taxed, since they perch on tax-exempt public buildings.
“Whether a community taxes solar PV (photo-voltaic) does not affect our decision of where to locate a solar PV system,” said Jim Walker, Ameresco’s director of solar PV grid-tie projects.
The company on Tuesday will cut ribbons at the Natick projects, which total 417,000 square feet and are scheduled to generate 1 megawatt of electricity, to be sold to the town at half of what it pays now.
The Metropolitan Area Planning Council last week named Ameresco its regional energy services company, enabling communities including Framingham, Ashland, Wayland and Sudbury to immediately enter energy savings contracts with the company.
But Tioga Energy, a San Francisco company with panels on BJ’s Wholesale Club stores in Leominster and North Attleborough, said local taxes are very important.
“We’re basically looking for rooftops or areas adjacent to buildings that are on the same parcel as companies that we’re going to be selling electricity to,” said Marc Roper, the company’s vice president of sales and marketing.
Roper said if Tioga builds panels on a taxable property, such as a BJ’s, and sells the energy to BJ’s, Tioga doesn’t pay property taxes.
But he said panels on tax-exempt or public property are taxable.
“That is a situation where the solar power plant is not tax-exempt,” he said.
Overall, solar companies said generous state government incentives make anywhere in Massachusetts a good location for solar.
“The biggest driver is just that the Massachusetts team, both the legislators and the other policy makers, have just made solar so attractive and affordable that it just makes good economic sense,” said Michelle Waldgeir, Astrum Solar vice president of marketing.
SOURCE: http://www.ktvb.com/news/local/Should-HOAs-regulate-solar-panel-use-137364383.html
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