PUTNEY — At a Jan. 9 Selectboard meeting, Energy Committee coordinator Daniel Hoviss reviewed a request for proposal for a 50-kilowatt solar energy system that would be installed on town-owned land at the highway garage.
The RFP was primarily based on one used by Brattleboro recently for a similar project.
Hoviss told the board that the Clean Energy Development Fund has run out of funds and no incentives are being offered at this time. This proposed plan relied on those incentives, he said.
Under those circumstances, it made sense for them to take a look at the second proposal the advisory committee worked on, which would be submitted later in the week, he said.
Hoviss told the board that the town investment would be $3 a watt for an average 50 kW system, so the town investment would be about $150,000. With incentive amounts dropping, he said, the proposed new incentive is down to 50 cents a watt, which would offset the expense.
Hoviss said the town would receive a credit on its electric bill for the power generated. If the town wants to borrow money to move forward with this project in fiscal year 2014, it would need to be warned and voted at the March 5 Annual Town Meeting. The deadline for additions to the warning is Jan. 30.