Solar installation at the Waitsfield Town Garage
On April 14, the town of Warren signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Warren Elementary School establishing a solar purchasing agreement for the 165k array that was installed behind Brooks Field this past September.
According to the agreement, the school is the first named creditor of the energy output of the array and the remaining output will go toward supplying electricity to a total of 15 town-owned buildings (prioritized within the agreement). The array is expected to offset about 88 percent of the school and municipal load.
By paying 90 percent of the credit they receive back to the town, Warren Elementary School “will accrue a small, tidy little sum,” Warren Select Board chair Andy Cunningham said. The town will use the money they receive to pay for the installation and ongoing maintenance of the array by the Waitsfield-based company, Aegis Renewable Energy.
Even though it will be lucrative, signing the solar purchasing agreement “is kind of a leap of faith on the school board’s part,” Cunningham said in appreciation of the school’s support of renewable energy.
On April 13, the town of Waitsfield accepted a similar agreement to be sent to Waitsfield Elementary School for the 102kW array that was installed at the town garage on Tremblay Road this past fall.
According to Waitsfield’s solar purchasing agreement, however, the school is the last named creditor of the array because it is closed during the summer—the highest energy output months.
Like Warren, Waitsfield Elementary School will pay back 90 percent of the credit they receive back to the town. The array is expected to make the new town office net zero, as well supply electricity to the town garage, the fire station, the Wait House and the Joslin Memorial Library.
