Written by Alec O'Meara, Director of External Affairs at Unitil
It had rained the night before, making the 36-acre lot tucked at the end of Towle Road in Kingston wet and muddy. Many wore boots, and most of the chairs for visitors were set up on a gravel turnaround to help keep them out of the muck. The soft earth was perfect for burying a shovel, however, and the sun ended up shining on the day we at Unitil celebrated a major milestone of formally breaking ground on what will be the first utility owned solar array in New Hampshire.
Universal Solar
The 11,232-panel, 4.9 megawatt facility is larger than any other array currently constructed in New Hampshire and will cover 27 acres of land. As a distribution utility, we are not allowed to own our own power plants, but we are allowed to build up to 18 megawatts of what are called Distributed Energy Resources. This is because the most efficient way to use electricity is to generate it as close to where it will be needed, and then to use it right away. A ‘Universal’ solar array like this is not unlike the concept of rooftop solar for an individual homeowner, but on a much larger scale. Our array will tie into our substation, where it will help offset the supply needed for our customers providing a direct cost benefit to all Unitil customers.
It has been part of our strategic plan to construct arrays like this, as it supports the renewable energy endeavors that are going on throughout New England and in a manner that contributes to affordability for our customers. The property in Kingston is ideal because it is adjacent to an existing substation. Finding opportunities to embrace renewable energy in places where it makes good sense and projects like this are central to our vision as a company: to transform the way people meet their evolving energy needs to create a clean and sustainable future.
Benefits to Customers
This array should provide the energy equivalent of what roughly 1,200 residential homes use annually, which is about half the total number of customers we happen to have in the Town of Kingston. That’s a major boost to the region’s renewable energy portfolio. However, to proceed with construction, it was important for us to demonstrate that the project would also provide a cost savings to customers. To do so, we looked at the costs associated with building and maintaining the array and compared that figure to the amount that the array would offset supply costs for customers in terms of the electricity it generates over its lifetime. Based on that comparison, we estimate this array will save over $2 million for Unitil New Hampshire electric customers while in service.
While this is the first of its kind for us in New Hampshire, the implementation of a solar array is not a new concept for us. We built our first solar array in 2017 in Fitchburg, Mass. The 1.3-megawatt facility, known as “Solarway,” involved the installation of more than 3,700 solar panels. That array has outperformed our initial load estimates by about 15 percent, which has demonstrated its value to customers since it’s been in operation.
Once the Kingston array is up and running, we will review the data, and if our estimates are met or exceeded, we look forward to exploring the construction of additional solar arrays in locations that offer the same great opportunity.
Many to Thank
This has been an exciting project for Unitil, both because it fits so well with our Company goals and because of the opportunity to do something that had not yet been done in the Granite State. It was a true team effort to get to this point, and there are many who have helped us reach this point.
ReVision Energy has been involved since the early stages. They have over 20 years of experience in solar development and helped us with our modeling. With their headquarters in Brentwood, very close to the Kingston project, and expertise in this field, they were a wonderful partner for us to work with on this project.
Audley Construction was brought on to do the site work, helping with land clearing and preparing the area for the next steps. TFMoran Inc., assisted with site design and permitting. The New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services, Fish and Game, Department of Energy, Public Utilities Commission and Consumer Advocate office all joined us along the way. Within the town of Kingston, we are grateful for the time local officials devoted to the project from the Select Board to the Planning Board to the Conservation Commission to the Energy Committee. Many are volunteer positions who work to ensure that projects proposed in Kingston match the character of their town.
A successful project like this really does involve all these different groups and it’s been impressive to see how they all played a part in helping this project move ahead. We look forward to bringing this array online in 2025 and exploring what new opportunities are out there for us as we work to help our customers find clean energy solutions.
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