A solar panel project at the capped landfill in Edgartown won the endorsement of the town select board Monday, which voted to enter into contract negotiations with Ameresco, a Framingham renewable energy company.

The company is one of seven applicants screened by the town subcommittee for the project.

Edgartown has been trying to determine the best way to use the old landfill off Meshacket Road for the past two years, Edgartown town administrator James Hagerty said. The town put out a request for proposals last June. The subcommittee eventually winnowed applicants to two finalists and decided to recommend Ameresco because of its experience and financial proposal, Mr. Hagerty said.

Joel Lindsay, Ameresco’s director of renewable energy development, said at the meeting Monday that the company has familiarity with both town governments and projects at capped landfills.

“We’ve done a number of landfill projects . . . I think it’s a great use of land that otherwise goes unused, and it’s something where we can really provide significant benefits to the town,” he said.

The solar panels will be placed on roughly 10 acres at the old landfill. The contract is for 20 years, and the town stands to generate as much as $12 million in revenue as a result of lease and tax payments, according to a presentation given to the select board.

“If you look at our other solar projects we’ve done in the past, this, even if it’s the most conservative projection that comes full circle, still provides much more economic value than the current solar fields that are existing right now,” Mr. Hagerty said.

The solar panels will generate roughly 4.8 million kilowatt hours of energy per year, saving more than 3,400 metric tons of carbon dioxide emission, according to the presentation.

The project still needs approval by voters at town meeting and review by the Martha’s Vineyard Commission.

“I would hope that the townspeople support [the project],” Mr. Hagerty said. “Obviously the select board supports it, the energy committee supports it . . . but this is just the first step and there’s going to be several other levels of scrutiny, several other levels of presentation of various regulatory boards and committees.”

The town is undertaking a number of initiatives to adapt to the effects of climate change and reduce its carbon footprint. A multi-million dollar public works project to raise Memorial Wharf is expected to be completed by Memorial Day weekend, and electric car charging stations will soon be installed at the park and ride lot on Dark Woods Road.

In other business Monday, the board voted unanimously to add their names to a letter from the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School to the Massachusetts School Building Authority seeking financial support for a major high school building and renovation project. The letter is circulating among all Island select boards this week. School leaders said last week that support from all six towns is a cricual first step in the MSBA process, after several years of failed attempts to secure funding.

Selectman Arthur Smadbeck called it a good first step for a long-overdue project that is projected to cost around $100 million. “I think that this is an opportunity for the Island — 40 per cent of $100 million, you can do the math,” Mr. Smadbeck said. “Moving forward is really in all of our best interests.”