LIVERMORE FALLS — Selectmen on Tuesday evening, Oct. 15, authorized the town manager to work with i.On Renewables, LLC of White Plains, New York, regarding a possible solar project at the town’s former landfill on Diamond Road and to write a letter of intent to CMP.

A drawing of the proposed solar project at the old Livermore Falls landfill shows how panels will be affixed in concrete blocks with no soil disturbance needed. Photo of design from HelioScope

Representative Shawn Meehan said i.On Renewables specializes in using land that is not suitable for anything else such as closed landfills. “What we do is we go around and we try and find suitable land,” he noted. “One of the towns that came up is Livermore Falls.”

CMP allows one megawatt projects, Meehan stated.  His company is proposing a solar project at the former landfill on about seven and a half acres that would produce one megawatt of AC power. “With these solar projects, the power that we produce doesn’t go anywhere else,” he noted. “It’s not a transmission project, it’s a distribution so it goes right to the substation and goes back to the town.”

If the select board is interested, he needs permission to bring the proposal to CMP and a letter of support. “It doesn’t put you in any binding, you know, agreement with us, or anything of that nature,” he said.

The solar panels would be put on cement blocks so there’s no penetration of the land, no disturbing of the soil, Meehan stated. His company would lease the land from the town for 30 years. “It’s kind of a win win,” he said. It’s land that can’t be used, just sits there, he noted.

Meehan said the project would not require any town services. It will take about three months to build, is like a big erector set, he noted. “We use as much local labor as possible,” he stated. “At the end of the 30 year lease, if, for some reason, they find another source that is better than solar there’s a decommissioning bond in place. Everything is removed, and when it’s removed, the land goes back to exactly the way it was. Nothing’s been changed.”

Chair William Kenniston said the town’s solar ordinance includes requirements for that.

At the end of the 30 year lease, the company would remove the panels or negotiate a new lease, Meehan said. “Solar changes so much,” he noted. “When I started eight years ago, the highest you would get was 200, 250 watts. Now they’re up to 600 so that just means less space, same amount of power.”

Kenniston liked the idea of using land like the landfill rather than farmland.

Livermore Falls would receive an income stream from the property, can use the power generated.

“I live next door to a solar farm, and I live probably 300 feet from, or maybe 400 feet from the substation,” Selectman Bruce Peary said. “I’m very familiar with what it looks like and how it works. I do like the fact that this is, we won’t say, unusable, but very limited, for any other use.”

What would be the cost to the town, Selectman Jim Long asked.

“There is no cost,” Meehan replied. I.On does all the applications, works with DEP, obtains easements if needed, negotiates rates for materials, builds it, and then at the end, connects with and pays CMP.

“You’re looking for interest from us,” Long asked.

Meehan said he needs to check with CMP, see if it’s even a possibility for a one megawatt project. He also needs a letter saying Livermore Falls gives permission to put in an application.

Town Manager Carrie Castonguay said i.On would be responsible for all maintenance.

No pesticides are used, rain and snow clean the panels off, Meehan noted. Livestock may be used to keep the grass down, he said.

Long said that area is mowed once a year.

It may be cut twice a year, Meehan noted.

The board talked about this before, didn’t think it was feasible, Long said.