By Susanna Sheehan, Clipper Staff

Sussana@Duxbury Clipper.com

The groundbreaking for the solar panel farm on Duxbury’s capped landfill on Mayflower Street will take place in the fall and should be completed by the end of the year, according the Alternative Energy Committee (AEC).

“Everything’s moving forward,” Josh Cutler told selectmen this week. Cutler is a member of the AEC and co-chair of the solar array subcommittee.

A Special Town Meeting approved a solar farm on the town’s capped landfill, a two-acre area behind the transfer station. The 500,000 KW solar farm should generate 700,000 kWh of green power annually. This project is expected to meet 15 percent of the town’s electrical needs and save $45,000 a year, according to the AEC.

After issuing a request for bids, the town approved a contract with American Capital Energy (ACE) of Chelmsford to build the solar farm and sell electricity to the town at a reduced rate, according to Cutler. There are two 20-year contracts: one for the lease of the land and the other for purchasing the power. The long-term contract is necessary so ACE can recoup construction expenses.

The savings will come to the town in the form of net metering. According to an AEC fact sheet, the Green Communities Act of 2008 allows a renewable energy project to sell the electricity it generates to a local utility at the retail rate. That project then receives a credit from the utility that can be transferred to an electrical customer.

“We’re able to buy the value of the electricity that goes into the grid at a discount,” explained Jim Goldenberg, chair of the AEC and a co-chair of its solar array subcommittee. “It costs nothing and saves money.”

Cutler agreed, “Duxbury is going green and saving green.”

Duxbury’s solar farm joins another renewable energy project the town recently approved. It will receive energy credits from a solar farm being built in Acushnet by Pegasus Renewable Energy.

“That project is proceeding along,” said Cutler. “They started construction and it’s expected to be ready by the end of the year.”

The twenty-year agreement with Pegasus Renewable Energy should provide approximately 25 percent of the town’s electrical needs and save between $35,000 to $45,000 a year said Cutler, adding the committee is working on two other solar projects. They are completing an agreement to buy the energy credits from another solar farm not located in Duxbury and also expect to place solar panels on the roof of the new high school.

Selectman Dave Madigan asked Cutler what percentage of the town’s electrical usage these solar projects will provide. Cutler said the committee is looking to cap the solar projects at between 75 to 80 percent of the town’s energy needs in case “other (renewable energy) opportunities come along.”

Once the solar projects are online, the committee plans to set up a Web site residents can use to see the latest solar production and energy savings.

While selectmen were supportive of the committee’s solar projects, they did not agree that the AEC could change its name to the Energy Committee, as it requested. Goldenberg said the committee voted the name change because the word “alternative” is antiquated in the energy business and has a negative connotation. The more current word is “renewable,” said Goldenberg, who asked selectmen for permission to make the change.

The board was cool to the idea, with Madigan saying he felt the title “Energy Committee” was too encompassing. Selectman Shawn Dahlen felt the current name fit the committee, saying: “I really think we are looking for an alternative to burning oil.” In related business, selectmen appointed a new Wind Advisory Committee made up of members of the AEC, the citizen’s group Duxbury Wind Wise (DWW) and interested residents. Appointed to the committee were Jack Murphy and Daniel Ryan from DWW; Susan Fontaine and Tom Burton from the DAC; and residents Andreas Klein, Jim Savicki and Robert Knapp.