Canton is Closer to Renewable Energy from Solar Farm

Get ready for some renewable energy this summer, Canton.

At Tuesday night's , the board heard updates on the construction of the town's renewable energy project. Representatives from Solar Sky Renewable Energy updated the selectmen on the located on the site of the town's former landfill on Pine Street.

Preliminary site work has begun on the project, according to Town Administrator Bill Friel.

"We are pleased to be able to" build the largest solar farm in New England, Southern Sky Renewable Energy Attorney Frank McMahon said.

Construction began on the site on December 5, McMahon said. The panels will be delivered to the site in January, he said.

A total of 19,800 solar panels will be used in this project, he noted.

McMahon said he hopes, with good weather, the solar farm will be operational by June or July 2012.

"We're ready to move forward," he told the board.

Once the solar farm is completed, it will have the honors of being the first in the state, and the largest of all the solar projects in the Bay State, McMahon noted.

The town is leasing 15 acres of the landfill to SSRE for $20,000 an acre, giving the town $300,000 of lease-generated revenue in the first year of the 20-year pact (there is also a five-year option to make this a potential 25-year deal.) The lease rate increases at a 2.5 percent clip every year, giving the town the opportunity to take in more than $10 million over the course of the deal. Canton stands to make an additional $750,000 over the course of the 25-year period through a rebate agreement.

The construction is paid for by SSRE, and no money from the town is being used for the project or for maintenance, according to Friel.

-Patch Editor Jeffrey Pickette contributed to this report.