ORANGE — The Selectboard has settled on Citizens Energy Corporation to install a solar array at the local landfill.
Town Administrator Matthew Fortier and fellow informal review committee members Pam Harty and Bruce Scherer recommended Citizens Energy Corporation among five prospects at last week’s Selectboard meeting.
“Dozens of hours were put into the proposals that came in. We’re talking about hundreds of pages worth of source material,” Fortier said to preface the recommendation. “We’re trying to determine which company is going to compensate the town of Orange adequately while also choosing a vendor that we feel like is accustomed to municipal projects, does have a lot of experience in the commonwealth, especially around landfill projects, [and] a vendor that we think will be a good partner with the town of Orange for years to come.”
At a July meeting, Scherer told the Selectboard that the panels will be hundreds of feet from the nearest residence and installed with a ballast, given that the landfill was capped decades ago to seal waste, prevent rainwater infiltration and isolate contaminants.
“This is a long time coming,” Scherer said. “This should’ve been done 20 years ago.”
He explained that the Franklin County Solid Waste Management District hired a company about 20 years ago to conduct a study of the most suitable landfills in the county for solar, and the one in Orange, at 100 Jones St., was rated the best.
“Yet other towns have built more than one because some towns have multiple landfills,” Scherer said. “We’re really late to the party.”
Among the five proposals, Scherer said Citizens Energy Corporation has the “strongest financial renumeration” for the town, with a plan to compensate Orange with approximately $250,000 per year. He noted it is “conceivable” the final number will be higher given that the company provided a high estimate for the cost of interconnection with National Grid. The company proposed a renewable 20-year contract.
“I will annoy the living daylights out of [National Grid] to ensure the town of Orange gets as much money from this project as humanly possible,” Scherer told the Selectboard.
Through Citizens Energy Corporation’s JOE-4-SUN assistance program, low-income residents would be able to receive energy at half the normal price.
“Often, when solar projects go in, people are like, ‘Well, what do I get?’” Scherer said. “Well, that’s what people are getting. This is a real, tangible benefit to the people who need it the most.”
Roger Freeman, an advisor for municipalities who brings 25 years of experience in the solar industry, reviewed the five proposals to confirm the committee’s recommendation. He described Citizens Energy Corporation as the highest-ranking financial and technical offer across most of the nine categories he considered.
Scherer added that the company has a “proven track record” and came with “glowing recommendations” from other projects.
“You can promise all the money in the world, but if you’re not capable of producing the project, we have no interest in knowing you,” Scherer said.
Selectboard Chair Julie Davis and member Alexandre Schwanz said they trusted the committee’s opinion.
“My feeling is, we have [a committee], they did their due diligence, they’ve spent dozens of hours,” member Reid Jeffries Anderson Jr. agreed.
Scherer said he hoped to start negotiating the contract with Citizens Energy Corporation the next day.
“These things always take longer than we think,” Scherer said. “The sooner we get started, the sooner we get done.”
