IWC Slates Hearing For Solar/Electric Project

By Andrew Gorosko

Following discussion at a December 14 session, Inland Wetlands Commission (IWC) members decided that a proposal to install photovoltaic equipment at the municipal sewage treatment plant to generate electricity for use there should be the subject of a public hearing.

IWC members agreed to conduct that hearing at 7:30 pm, January 11, at Newtown Municipal Center, 3 Primrose Street.

IWC members had discussed the photovoltaic proposal at a November 29 meeting and had planned to consider it as a routine wetlands application for discussion and possible action on December 14 without holding any public hearing.

But after considering the scale of the project and public interest in the subject, they opted to hold a January 11 hearing.

IWC Chairman Anne Peters said of the planned hearing, “It certainly will be an interesting discussion.”

Before the hearing, IWC members plan to visit the terrain where the solar-to-electric system would be installed in considering issuing a wetlands/watercourse protection permit.

The proposed installation is designed to convert sunlight into electricity to cover nearly 30 percent of the sewage plant’s electric supply needs.

George Benson, town director of planning and land use, has said that the solar-to-electric equipment installation would cover approximately 5,000 square feet of wetlands soil near the sewage treatment plant at 24 Commerce Road. The site is in a M-5 (Industrial) zone.

The photovoltaic proposal does not require approval from the Planning and Zoning Commission, (P&Z), Mr Benson has said.

OPEL Solar, Inc, of Shelton is the firm designated to install the photovoltaic equipment.

According to application documents submitted for the project, no earthen material would be removed or deposited at the site where the solar arrays would be installed.

The site, which includes approximately 5,000 square feet of wetlands soil, would be cleared, graded, and trenched, with foundations installed for the structures that would support the solar/electric panels. The equipment would produce about 80 kilowatts of alternating current.

The sewage plant is one of the largest users of electricity locally, when considering the amount of power needed to keep its various equipment, including pumps, operating around the clock.

The overall solar/electric project has a budget extending up to about $513,000. About $338,000 of that amount would be covered by a Connecticut Clean Energy Fund grant, with the town’s Water & Sewer Authority (WSA) having authorized an additional $175,000 in spending for the project from its capital reserve fund.

The solar arrays to be installed near the sewage treatment plant would automatically tilt to track the sun’s movement across the sky during the course of a day to maximize electric production. Those arrays would be installed to the north and to the west of the sewage filtration building at the treatment plant.