Edgartown Inks Deal for Solar Power

After years of planning and negotiations, Edgartown has inked a contract to bring solar power to the town.

The plan will allow for the installation of solar panels on three town-owned sites in Edgartown, totally about 20 acres. Those locations include parcels off land on Katama Farm, off Meetinghouse Way and off Pennywise Path.

The town is working with Cape and Vineyard Electric Cooperative, a consortium of towns that will leverage a new government program to subsidize the cost of electricity. Kitt Johnson, Edgartown’s representative on the Cooperative,  said the solar panels could produce enough energy to power all municipal buildings for the next 20 years—a prospect that could save the town millions, especially if the cost of energy continues to rise.

Getting to this point has been a long, and occasionally arduous ordeal, as has been detailed in both the Martha’s Vineyard Times and the Vineyard Gazette. The plan calls for Edgartown to lease land to the Cape and Vineyard Electric Cooperative, a consortium of towns, which in turn will lease it to a private developer. Developers needed to be secured, contracts worked out, and public opinion quelled.

In December, Edgartown voters approved the selectmen to enter into negotiations and establish contracts on the three parcels of land. Objections were raised over the use of agricultural land for the projects. The Martha’s Vineyard Agricultural Society appealed to town officials and wrote letters to both papers, urging voters to reconsider the use of farm land for solar energy, which it said could result in thousands of dollars per year in lost productivity. Edgartown selectmen overruled those claims.

On Monday, selectmen and members of the Edgartown Conservation Commission gathered to sign contracts to put the deal into place.

“This project has come about almost entirely form the efforts of Kitt Johnson, who is here today,” said selectmen Arthur Smadbeck. “This is not just a win-win for the town. This is an amazing step that the Town of Edgartown—small as we are—is taking toward green energy.

“It just feels good,” said Johnson. “Based on fairly conservative projections . . .  this will be worth a net benefit to the town of $8.1 million over the next 20 years.”

Any extra energy generated by the solar panels will “come back to us as a check under the provisions of the law,” added Johnson. “So, it’s really sweet.”

All three Edgartown sites should be up and running by November 2012, said Johnson.

“I never really thought this would end up being a success,” said town administrator Pam Dolby, who noted that when Johnson first came to her with the plan for solar energy, she thought it was “too good to be true.

“This is awesome,” Dolby said.