Solar Panels Now Top Town Buildings

Workers from DCS Energy in Glastonbury were in town this week to hook up solar panels installed atop several town buildings, including Town Hall, the senior center, the Public Works salt shed and the Ledyard Police Department.

Once the job of connecting the panels to the electrical system is complete, the work will be inspected by the Connecticut Light & Power Co. If it all checks out, a switch will be thrown and the town's electricity costs will start to come down.

Subscribe

Slowly at first. It is, after all, the dead of winter, when sunlight is in short supply. But come spring and summer, monthly savings are expected to grow to as much as $200 or more per building.  

The panels, including the installation, did not cost Ledyard taxpayers a penny. That's because they were acquired under a program funded by federal stimulus money.

Ledyard Mayor Fred B. Allyn Jr. first learned of the program from a short article in the Norwich Bulletin. He looked into it, and then presented the information to the Town Council, which he said responded positively to the plan.

Allyn, hoping to meet deadlines imposed by the program, contracted with DCS Energy to install the panels. Originally, the plan was to install solar panels on most town buildings, including the Bill Library and most of the town's schools. 

School panels hit snags

DCS was unable to install the panels on flat roofs. Because the town's schools have flat roofs, ground-mounted panels were proposed for them. But when the Board of Education's Facilities Committee reviewed the plan, concerns for student safety and liability were raised. The plan also called for fencing to be installed around the ground-mounted solar panels, at a cost of $3,500 per school.

Before these concerns could be resolved, the time window closed for solar panels at the schools.

Solar panels proposed for the Bill Library met similar administrative hurdles. Initially, the panels were subject to the Center Ledyard District's Architectural Review Board, as well as the Library Commission.

Both groups supported the panels, with certain restrictions. Indeed, it was noted that environmental stewardship is both appropriate and in keeping the town's rural New England character.

But during the zoning approval process, there was a concern raised that the roof on the library's newer addition would be able to bear the weight of the solar panels. As the town worked on resolving that question, another window closed.

Allyn said it is still possible that the town could be granted an extension for the Bill Library panels. Either way, there will be only about half as many solar panels installed as he had hoped for when the project began.

But Allyn seemed pleased by what the town was able to accomplish under a program that might easily have been missed except for a short newspaper article.

Four buildings with solar panels is better than none. "And every little bit helps," he said.

Note: This article is the third in a series on environmental initiatives in Ledyard.