News
Hamilton and Town of Kirkland discuss plans for solar farm to increase College’s renewable energy use
By Liam Wallace ’16
February 11, 2016
Tags news
Hamilton is currently seeking approval from the Town of Kirkland Planning Board for an 11.9 acre, 8,370 panel solar farm. When complete, the project will dramatically increase Hamilton’s utilization of renewable energy. The site selected for the solar farm lies off of Campus Road, situated primarily in two large fields just beyond the golf course.
With the capacity to produce 3.7 million kilowatt hours of electricity annually, the project far surpasses the College’s goal of producing 750,000 kilowatt hours as laid out in the 2009 “Hamilton Climate Action Plan.” This initial goal provided for only three percent of Hamilton’s annual energy usage, approximately 24.8 million kilowatt hours. The new solar farm will produce almost 15 percent of the College’s energy needs, far exceeding the 2009 expectations. This is part of a larger goal set by the same plan to incrementally reduce Hamilton’s carbon output and becoming carbon neutral by 2050.
Hamilton is working with the solar energy company SolarCity to complete the project. Aside from providing the land for the solar farm, the College will bear none of the supply and building costs of the project. Instead, SolarCity will build the solar farm itself, then sell the electricity produced to the College.
When asked what led Hamilton to a partnership with a private firm to develop the project, Associate Vice President for Facilities & Planning Steve Bellona said, “I probably was getting a phone call a week” from renewable energy companies looking to build a solar farm on campus. “Finally we just said ‘ok, let’s put out a proposal’” for the project.
Working with a consultant, Hamilton considered three different companies, ultimately choosing SolarCity following a review of the potential benefits of working with each company.
The initial agreement between Hamilton and SolarCity is for 20 years of solar energy production. However, Bellona noted that the College might persist in using the solar farm. “In 20 years, depending on how [the solar farm] is operating, there is an option for us to continue the contract.” Additionally, there is “another option for us to purchase it and the other option is for them just to take it away.”
Though the project is not formally underway, as the Town of Kirkland Planning Board has yet to approve it, Bellona anticipates that SolarCity will complete the installation quickly. The current estimated time of completion is three to four months after the start of the project.
Even with a large amount of the planning already complete, the project’s approval is not a done deal.
Bellona noted that at recent public hearings, some people voiced complaints about the project. He said that the project makes a “change to the current landscape of a period of time and that is going to impact people.” The goal at this point is to “hear their voices and try to reduce the impact that a system like this might have” on those in opposition.
Despite the concerns of some, Bellona is optimistic about the project. “Beyond that, I don’t necessarily see a lot of problems associated with the system and us being able to put it in place.”