Edgartown selectmen are exploring possible sites for an ambitious solar panel project that if built could provide power to all the town’s municipal buildings.

The project calls for building two to four solar panels that could produce four megawatts of power. The Cape and Vineyard Electric Cooperative (a member of the Cape Light Compact) would manage the project, and solicit bids for solar panel developers to construct and maintain the panels. The project would come at zero cost to the town, as the developer would borrow the necessary funds and sell energy credits to the town at a reduced rate. The project cost is estimated between $8 and $9 million.

The selectmen met with the town water commissioners on Tuesday to discuss the possibility of using water department land for the project. Commissioners expressed interest, but water department superintendent Fred Domont warned about the difficulty of changing water department land use under the state constitution.

“Both water and conservation land are under Article 97 [of the constitution] and it’s very difficult to change the land use once the land is put into article 97,” he said. Petitioning the state Department of Environmental Protection, house of representatives, senate and governor would be necessary.

Meanwhile, a Dec. 31 deadline is looming for the town to apply for three key state and federal incentives that would make the project possible by cutting 30 per cent of construction costs, reducing the price per kilowatt hour and declaring the project as net-metered electricity with no distribution charge.

“It’s the perfect storm of incentives,” Kitt Johnson, the Edgartown representative to the cooperative. said yesterday. “If we can get it all together we can save the town a lot of money.”

Town administrator Pam Dolby will prepare a letter of intent to participate in a request for a proposal put together by the cooperative.

In other business Tuesday, the selectmen voted to allow Lattanzi’s restaurant to close from Nov. 4 to Dec. 8.

“It’s important to the town especially in hard economic times that we have restaurants open and that not everyone decides to go for a seasonal license,” Mrs. Dolby said, noting that she is working to stagger restaurant closings during the off-season.

Selectmen also signed off on a warrant for an Oct. 28 special town meeting.