ATHOL — The solar array at 1006 Templeton Road lacks a gate because National Grid has not yet determined the point of interconnection between networks.
John Typadis of Athol Solar Holdings LLC, the local project entity of Allston-based Oak Square Partners, sent the town an email stating the gate would have to be uninstalled and reinstalled if incorrectly placed somewhere before National Grid determines the interconnection point. Athol Planning and Development Director Eric Smith shared this information at Wednesday’s meeting of the Board of Planning and Community Development inside Town Hall.
Typadis’ email said the gate will be installed as soon as possible.
Oak Square Partners also consists of Sevag Khatchadourian and a couple of outside investors.
The array will be a net-metered one. Net-metering involves customers using the solar electricity from solar panels located in a designated spot and splitting the bill in order to save money. Typadis and Khatchadourian previously said hosting the array will benefit Athol in the form of an undetermined amount of tax revenue.
Board member Aimee Hanson also said she is frustrated the lot’s bushes have not been removed, as Typadis and Khatchadourian agreed to have done. Smith said he would bring that concern to Oak Square Partners.
Typadis and Khatchadourian got the board’s approval on Jan. 11, contingent upon the installment of nine adjacent 10-foot sets of specific vegetation on the lot. Hanson insisted on sets consisting of a holly tree, a dwarf Alberta spruce, Rhododendrons, white hydrangeas, zebra grass and yellow daylilies, in addition to black mulch.
Typadis and Khatchadourian previously told the board their plan was to construct a 420-kilowatt, ground-mounted solar array with 1,241 solar panels, each 320-watt in power, taking up 1.7 acres of a 2.4-acre lot across from North Quabbin Commons that includes Market Basket and other businesses.