This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Health & Fitness

Maine Town Looks to the Sun for Power, Savings and Sustainability

ELIOT, Maine — On a brightly sunny Saturday morning, the town of Eliot showcased the new solar panel system that sits atop the town garage roof and powers the garage, the transfer station and half of the police department’s electricity. 

The town of Eliot has taken a big step toward becoming more sustainable, and over the course of several decades, that effort will also save the town hundreds of thousands of dollars. 

ReVision Energy, a renewable energy contractor serving Northern New England, installed the system, and on Nov. 2, the town held an informational tour about it for a small number of Eliot residents, members of the Eliot Energy Committee and the Board of Selectmen, and the town public works staff. ReVision representative Josh Barton was on hand to answer questions and help with the tour.  

Find out what's happening in Portsmouthwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Attendees came away impressed by the 150-solar panel system on the roof of the town garage, which is located on Dow Highway south of Marshwood Junior High School.  The tour started in the front of the garage with an overview of cost and energy savings the solar array will afford the town. With the south-facing solar panels in view, attendees learned about the solar array and about other equipment in and on the building. Attendees were shown how the power meter works, and they learned about the logistics of CMP producing power when the solar panels are not and when the reverse occurs. 

“ReVision did a great job installing the solar panels, an extremely good job,” Charlie Case, a member of the Eliot Energy Committee, said after the tour. “And they did it in a week and a half.“ 

Find out what's happening in Portsmouthwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Case has personal experience with the particulars and benefits of solar power. In 2008, Barrington, N.H.-based Seacoast Energy Alternatives installed six panels on a house Case owns in Kittery, and that experience informs Case’s role on the Energy Committee. 

“They did a great job, too,” Case said about SEA. Speaking about his home’s solar power array, he added: “We turned it on in ‘08, and we haven’t touched it since; it just makes power.” 

So, Case is keen to mention that on a sunny day, the town garage’s solar panel array produces more than the garage can use. Under Maine law, Eliot is able to take power generated from one site and credit up to nine other meters on buildings that Eliot owns. 

Since the July 2013 installation of the solar panels, and with three months worth of energy generation data under its belt, the town expects the panels to produce a total of 51,700 kilowatt-hours of energy per year. That is enough energy to provide the town garage with the necessary 20,000 kilowatt-hours, and the 15,000 kilowatt-hours needed at the transfer station, with excess power supplying between one-third and one-half of the police department’s electricity bill. 

Through Eliot’s “power purchase agreement” with ReVision, ReVision has promised to pay the hefty $160,000 upfront installation fees for the solar panels, and will own and operate the system, and sell the electricity produced for a reduced rate to the town. As a tax-paying investor, ReVision is then able to take advantage of the 30 percent federal tax credit that is available for solar energy, which the town of Eliot is unable to receive. In return for this contract, ReVision is charging the town 2 cents less than Central Maine Power, which will result in savings of $1,000 a year. 

The contract with ReVision, however, only gets better with time. 

“At the end of six years, ReVision is giving us a very good deal, selling us the equipment at 25 percent of the original cost,” Case said, noting that the cost will be about $43,000 in 2019 dollars. The town has already begun to set aside $7,000 a year to ensure that it can make this purchase.  

By not having to purchase electricity from CMP at today’s rates, if the town buys the equipment, it is expected to save $8,272 per year. The system is expected to last 40 or more years, and if CMP prices go up 2 percent a year, which is not unreasonable, the town of Eliot will see cumulative savings of more than $300,000. 

“That's a lot of money," Case said. 

The Energy Commission is exploring other solar installations, including building a solar field at the old town landfill south of the town garage site, which would produce enough energy to power all municipal buildings — and perhaps school buildings. The town has held preliminary discussions with the Marshwood school district about the plan. 

“Eliot's project is a great example of municipalities in the region getting tuned into solar energy,” said Fred Greenhalgh, digital marketing manager of ReVision Energy. “These kinds of projects illuminate how solar has matured from its ‘off the grid’ roots into the most cost-effective form of electricity available today.  These long-lived systems provide one of safest, most reliable investments for municipalities, while also offering a great suite of environmental benefits.” 

ReVision Energy and Seacoast Energy Alternatives are Business Partners of the Green Alliance, a union of local sustainable businesses promoting environmentally sound business practices and a green co-op offering discounted green products and services to its members. 

To learn more about ReVision Energy, visit www.revisionenergy.com

For more information about Seacoast Energy Alternatives, visit www.seasolarstore.com/.

And to learn more about the Green Alliance, visit www.greenalliance.biz.
We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?