The sun was absent from the gathering, but celebrated nonetheless on Tuesday afternoon as the town of Tisbury dedicated its first solar array. The 1.2 megawatt project is tucked away behind the park and ride lot.
Smith Hollow is a quiet neighborhood in Edgartown. But this past summer, the installation of a new municipal solar array added a new sound to the mix: incessant humming that all but drowns out the other sounds at some Smith Hollow residences.
More than three years after the town of Edgartown made a bet on green energy, the town's municipal solar sites are now feeding power back into the grid. But getting to this point has been anything but easy.
South Mountain Company of West Tisbury has been accepted for membership in Amicus — a national solar buying cooperative. Amicus is an association of independently owned solar companies that have joined forces to provide their customers with better industry pricing for products and services.
West Tisbury selectmen this week set the annual tax rate and discussed the status of the town solar project. At a public hearing on Wednesday, the board voted to approve a single tax rate of $5.41 per $1,000 valuation.
Chilmark will contract with the local energy cooperative Vineyard Power to build the town’s first solar array.
Pending final approval from town counsel, the Chilmark selectmen Tuesday voted to approve a contract for about 530 solar panels at the town landfill off Tabor House Road. The 173-kilowatt system is planned to produce up to 215,000 kilowatt hours a year, enough energy to power the town buildings.
The project will cost $1.25 million to build and is being financed by an unnamed Chilmark resident.
A soft buzz of 250,000 watts of energy echoed off of Watcha Path in Edgartown on Thursday afternoon.
“Listen to that hum,” Bill Bennett told a group of Martha’s Vineyard Public Charter School students standing next to several transformers at Mr. Bennett’s new solar array.
Aquinnah Selectmen Will Seek Bylaw to Regulate Energy Use
By IAN FEIN
With the energy demands of large homes a growing concern across the
Island, Aquinnah selectmen this week unanimously endorsed a regulation
that would require new homes over a certain size to include renewable
energy sources such as solar panels or wind turbines.
"This is an important measure," selectman James Newman
said at the regular board meeting on Tuesday, after proposing the energy
requirement. "And I think that this community should be a leader
on the issue."
Foundations for the new Martha’s Vineyard Hospital won’t be poured until spring, but already the hospital has big plans for the rooftops.
This week the hospital received notice from the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, the state’s development agency for renewable energy and the innovation economy, that the hospital will receive a $198,000 design and construction grant for solar electric panels atop the new building.
Eight months from now, the Vineyard could finally be able to boast its first significant, working, zero-carbon energy project. And the power will come not from wind but from the sun.
By the start of July two towns, Edgartown and Tisbury, could be harvesting all their municipal energy needs from several acres of solar panels, and doing it affordably.