News & Press

Solar farm expected to save Methuen $92,000

The Eagle Tribune

December 8, 2011

METHUEN — A solar farm made up of nearly 5,000 solar panels is expected to be up and running by August atop the former municipal dump.

Officials said the panels will generate enough power to cut the city's annual electric bill by $92,000.

City councilors unanimously approved two agreements last month with California-based Borrego Solar that will allow the company install solar panels on the Huntington Avenue landfill and sell the resulting power back to the city at a reduced rate.

The Huntington Avenue landfill was closed in 1997. City Engineer Frank Russo said Methuen will be among the first municipalities in the state to build a solar farm atop a landfill.

"You really can't do much with a landfill," said Russo. "It's just vacant land you really can't build on. It's the perfect place to put a solar farm and to generate some revenue."

The solar farm is expected to produce enough electricity to power 150 homes for an entire year, or the city's water treatment plant for about four months.

"Obviously, the environmental benefits are huge as well, but from our perspective it's more of a power-purchase agreement at a very advantageous rate," said Mayor William Manzi. "We're on the cutting edge of this, way ahead of most municipalities in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts."

Manzi first announced plans to work with Borrego in January.

The company will pay $1 a year for 20 years to install and maintain 4,900 solar panels atop the landfill. The panels will be installed across two to four acres near the landfill entrance.

The Huntington Avenue landfill is located off Howe Street, just north of Route 213.

In return for access to the landfill, Borrego will transfer the power generated from the solar panels into the National Grid system and the utility will sell the electricity back to Methuen for 8.5 cents per kilowatt — roughly six cents lower than normal market rate.

"The company is producing energy. We derive the energy benefit," said Manzi. "When you put both together, I think quite honestly it's a good deal for them but it's a good deal for the city and it's a good deal for the citizens because we get to save, over 20 years, $1.8 million."

Methuen will pay 1 percent more each year for the discounted power, which translates to a rate of 10.5 cents per kilowatt by the end of the 20-year agreement.

Borrego Solar is headquartered in San Diego and has an office Lowell.

Russo said the company is now preparing a project design for approval with the state Department of Environmental Protection.

Upon approval, Russo said the panels will be installed in early summer and running in August.

Methuen began exploring the idea of a solar farm in late 2009. The city later applied for and received a $35,000 grant from the Department of Energy Resources to pay a consultant to help the city develop a request for proposals. Russo led the landfill solar farm project on the city's behalf.

Russo said the city is already in the early stages of pursuing a second power-sharing solar project that potentially could produce up to 11 million kilowatt hours of electricity.

The landfill project is expected to generate 1.6 million kilowatt hours annually.

"Just think of it," said Russo. "At the landfill, we're saving $90,000 a year. The potential is there to save 10 times that."

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