By Curt Brown cbrown@s-t.com June 21, 2011 12:00 AM
DARTMOUTH — A San Diego-based developer is planning to construct a 6,266-solar panel farm on a portion of the former Russells Mills Road landfill under a 20-year lease with the town.
Under the agreement, Dartmouth would lease about 10 acres of the landfill for $1 to Borrego Solar Systems Inc. The town would buy the electricity produced at the 1.45-megawatt facility for 8 cents per kilowatt hour and sell that power to NStar for the net metering rate or 12.5 cents per kilowatt hour, according to David G. Cressman, the town's executive administrator.
Cressman said projections indicate the solar farm will generate $2.9 million in new revenue for the town over the life of the lease and it would be the first private facility on municipal land in SouthCoast.
The Select Board praised the project and Cressman for his work on the lease and voted unanimously at its meeting Monday night to authorize the administrator to sign the agreement for the town.
Cressman said the hourly rate the town would pay Borrego is fixed for the 20 years of the lease, but the hourly rate that NStar would pay the town is not.
He called the agreement "a great deal" for the town.
Joe Harrison, Borrego's senior project developer, said the company anticipates starting construction in November and expects the facility will be operational by late March or early April, if weather permits.
He said the solar farm would be constructed on the landfill's "crown," which faces the south.
The former landfill sits at the back of the Department of Public Works' facility on Russells Mills Road. Cressman said the solar farm would co-exist with the DPW's transfer station and Highway Department yard at the site.
Borrego's project would be the third solar project in Dartmouth. Borrego also has plans to lease 5 acres of land near the former sports dome off Reed Road from Peter Hawes of Dartmouth for development of a 6,900-solar panel farm.
And Con Edison Development of New York constructed the largest solar farm in New England — an 8,000-panel farm — on the Dartmouth side of the New Bedford Business Park.
Cressman said Dartmouth issued a request for proposals for the former landfill in November and received six bids. Three finalists were interviewed, and the town decided to enter into a lease with Borrego.
He said the town discussed whether to charge a much higher price than the nominal fee of $1 for the lease or to realize new revenue by purchasing the power at a reduced rate and then selling it to the utility at a higher rate.
"After we saw the numbers we thought it was more advantageous to do it on the power purchase," he said.
Harrison said Borrego still must obtain a permit from the state Department of Environmental Protection to build on a former landfill and also reach an interconnectivity agreement with NStar.
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