PELHAM — A proposed 4.4-megawatt solar installation to be located on a 64-acre managed woodlot next to the Cadwell Memorial Forest will be the subject of a Planning Board hearing on Tuesday.
The hearing, under the town’s Large-Scale Ground-Mounted Solar Electric Installation bylaw, begins Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. at the Pelham Elementary School gymnasium.
The special permit application for ASD Tower MA Solar LLC, also known as PureSky Energy, is for a ground-mounted solar along Tower Road on land owned by W.D. Cowls Inc., next to the Cadwell Forest that is owned and managed by the University of Massachusetts. The proposed project would remove 34 acres of trees.
On its website, PureSky describes the project as “designed to generate clean, locally produced energy. Even at this stage of the development, the project’s design has been refined in response to community feedback.”
Once up and running, likely in late 2028, the project would provide the equivalent power for 642 homes annually, or 865 gas-powered cars in a year.
Over the summer, the Planning Board had a public meeting with a preapplication presentation. The hearing starts the public permitting process, which will also include reviews by independent peer experts and coordination with other town boards and committees before a decision is reached.
Documents filed by consultant Tetra Tech of Marlborough show that the solar array field will be just under 8 acres, set nearly 2,000 feet from Packardville Road and around 800 feet from the nearest home.
The panels and all mechanical cabinets and other enclosures will be located within a 24-acre fenced area, with power generated from the facility to be conveyed underground from the inverter to a series of standard “interconnect” poles arranged along the project driveway entrance off Tower Road.
The solar arrays will use tracking panels oriented in a north-south configuration
that rotate with the sun to maximize light exposure.
“Tracker panels are more efficient than static panel installations. As such, they require fewer panels, can produce the same power from a smaller footprint, and eliminate the stationary drip edge and the associated erosion risk of stationary panels,” the application notes.
In addition, an existing path through the property, known as Cemetery Road, will remain. That is often used by people skiing and hiking there.
The application states that Pelham would receive more than $70,000 annually in property tax revenue that would increase by 2% to 2.5% annually, meaning about $2.5 million over the 30-year lifespan of the project.
