Mansfield may soon go greener, after a solar energy company establishes a solar "farm" on an abandoned landfill within the town borders.
Mansfield Municipal Electric Department director Gary Babin told light commissioners Wednesday 11 parties showed up at a pre-bid meeting July 13 to declare their interest in a request for proposals issued by the MMED this spring. The RFP featured the prospect of providing solar energy to Mansfield customers generated from panels that would be set up on either or both of two sites - the former town dump site, now partially occupied by the recycling park and the town compost area, and the vacant landfill off Stearns Avenue that was used in the 60's by the Hercules Powder Company.
Because of the number of solar developers that have shown interest in the project, the due date for proposals has been extended to August 10.
The department is generating a list of questions that applicants will address in the proposals they give to the town.
Babin and light department manager Bill Ross noted the fact that Mansfield has its own light department might make the business transaction of selling solar power to the town simpler than if the town was an N-Star or National Grid customer.
In other news, Babin also reported the East Mansfield substation off Bird Road will be built and functioning in less than a year. Bids for the switch-gear building and for the transformer will be opened July 27, and for the substation equipment and steel on August 17.
The bids for the final contractor to handle the construction of the $4 million project will come in the fall, and will be awarded in January so work can begin during the winter. The closing for the adjacent land needed for the easement will be signed next week.
The substation project has been in the planning stages for several years, and will help boost service to the East side of town. Right now, power must travel a long way from Gilbert Street in West Mansfield to the heavily populated east side, and the new substation is supposed to take 40 percent of the load off that system.
The substation building will be about 14.5 by 50 feet, and will be set back about 40 feet from Bird Road, formerly just a cart path between Mansfield and Sharon. The site was picked from several possibilities, all in the same general area, back in 2008, and the general area looks much as it always has, except for some residential homes. The substation will be located right next to the National Grid overhead power lines.
Permitting for the final proposal included resolving sticky conservation issues, dealing with a fair amount of concern from abutting residential neighbors, and negotiations with National Grid, the owner of the land.
Babin agreed with commissioner Jess Aptowitz that the electric department has enough money on hand to consider returning some of it to the rate-payers after the substation is complete, either in the form of a bonus, or by running the department at break-even for a year or so. Although the department could pay for the substation outright, the plan has been to borrow about half the amount needed.