Suffield Applies For Solar Energy Plan

The Suffield Board of Selectmen approved, Wednesday night, a plan to pursue alternative energy plans for the town’s municipal needs.

If followed through, “it’s an opportunity for the town to save some serious money,” said John Donahue, chairman of the town’s alternative energy committee.

A proposal to the State of Connecticut’s Clean Energy Finance Investment Authority must be submitted within weeks if Suffield is to take advantage of funding and credits that will build solar photovoltaic energy panels for municipal use.

A potential first site could be the Water Pollution Control Authority. Donahue said the plant racked up $180,000 in electricity bills in 2011. With a small industrial system (less than 100 kW) the potential savings could be $250,000 to $500,000 over the lifetime of the system (possibly 20 years).

The town landfill could be a future use, as the solar systems need a certain acreage.

The selectmen voted unanimously to allow McAnany to move forward, providing there is no cost to the town.

“Sounds like we really need to do this as a town,” said Selectman Eileen Moncrief.

Enfield, East Granby and Somers are some of the other towns using this program, according to Donahue.

The CEFIA programs work to reduce expenses and outlay for alternative energies and provide rebates. When all rolled into one package, the town could pay nothing to install and use the systems.

According to Donahue and McAnany, this could mean millions of dollars in electricity savings for the town over a 20 to 30 year period.

According to their research the town would receive reduced energy rates at pre-determined prices and would have certainty in costs for budgeting purposes

“If there are no out of pocket expenses and there is savings in the first year, my question is: ‘why wait?’” said Donahue.

“This is a big opportunity here,” said Donahue. “The committee is very excited about this.”

The town would retain Bridgewater's GreenCap Advisors, at a possible five percent commission, to find investors, analyze and collect bids for the program. Solar companies included in the research for suppliers includes Sun Harvest and Ross companies out of Connecticut and national solar suppliers NexAmp and Borrego.

Acccording to he CEFIA, it is the nation’s first full-scale clean energy finance authority and leverages public and private funds to drive investment and scale up clean energy deployment in Connecticut.  Incentives and innovative low-cost financing encourages homeowners, companies, municipalities, and other institutions to support renewable energy and energy efficiency.

For more information please check out http://www.ctcleanenergy.com/