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 new commercial-scale solar project and development of a wind turbine project south of the Island top the to-do list for Vineyard Power in the coming year, leaders of the cooperative told members last weekend.
With 1,300 members and the Island’s first municipal solar array a reality as of this week, Vineyard Power, the Island energy cooperative that was little more than an idea three years ago, is now a viable enterprise.
But with 8,000 members needed to make the next big project a reality — a $200 million offshore wind farm in a state-approved area south of the Vineyard — the fledgling community cooperative still has a good distance to travel to meet its goals.
Aquinnah selectmen this week inched closer to a final contract with Vineyard Power to install a solar array at the landfill, but pressed for clearer contingency plans from the community energy cooperative in the event of a problem.
Summer shoppers seeking shade may be able to do so this summer while powering up. Vineyard Power hopes to install a 12,200 square foot array of solar panels over the Vineyard Haven Cronig’s parking lot. The array, which will supply a quarter of the store’s energy needs, is made up of three “solar canopies,” which will also feature six electric car charging stations.
After nearly two hours of passionate and sometimes contentious debate, Aquinnah voters agreed to back a plan to install 200 solar panels at the town landfill at a special town meeting Wednesday night.
