Developers Propose PILOT for Solar Farm

The developers behind the 2 megawatt solar generating facility are proposing a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement that would see the town receive some $575,000 over the 25-year life of the project. 

Under the proposal made to the Board of Assessors Tuesday, the developers of the project would pay the town just under $18,000 in the first full year of the project, with payments increasing 2 percent in each year after.  

Brian Kopperl, CEO of Renewable Energy Massachusetts, which is working with New York-based Syncarpha Solar LLC, said the project needs the certainty of a PILOT agreement and hopes to have one soon so that the project can nail down its financing. 

"You have our commitment to act as quickly as possible," Board of Assessors Chairman John J. Cronin told Kopperl. 

However, he added, "We have a lot of homework to do," including finding similar projects in other communities to develop comparions. "Our obligation is to the Holliston taxpayer and we want to make sure we do our due diligence."

George K. Lagassa, an appraisal consultant from Mainstream Associates, presented a cash-flow analysis as the basis for the proposal, noting that there are no other projects that have sold that can be used as a basis for a market comparison. 

The analysis includes the revenue the project would generate from electricity sales--the proponents are negotiating with Nstar--as well as renewable energy credits, or RECs and a host of state and federal tax incentives that are helping to make the project possible. 

Kopperl said proponents hope to have the project fully permitted before the end of 2011 and begin construction in the spring of 2012. The local review began with the Conservation Commission, which during an initial hearing in August. 

Cronin said he is only aware of two other PILOT agreements in Holliston. Both involve public housing projects, he said, and were negotiated directly with developers.