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The Board of Selectmen approved easements to allow Skyview Development to install energy-producing photovoltaic panels outside the Eunice Postol Recreation Center on Mill Plain Road and at Operation Hope on Nichols Street. The systems will produce solar energy for the local grid, which will then be sold back to the town at a discounted rate in exchange for hosting the panels.
The system at the Recreation Center will be a canopy of solar panels installed over the parking lot, turning it into a shaded carport. Along with providing electricity for the Recreation Center, the system will also be able to feed an electric car charging station in the lot.
At Operation Hope, the panels will be mounted on the shelter’s roof. Fairfield owns the building and maintains its utilities as part of a lease agreement with the nonprofit organization.
The installation is part of a state government program to encourage more renewable energy production in Connecticut. The state will help pay for the construction of the systems, which will then be owned and maintained by Skyview. The corporation will handle any repair or replacement costs in the future, meaning Fairfield has no financial liability for the equipment.
“If the program fails, we’re not at risk,” Public Works Assistant Director Ed Boman told the Board of Selectmen last week. “We just go back to buying power at the regular rate.”
Fairfield has installed similar systems on other town buildings. Tomlinson and Roger Ludlowe Middle Schools also had photovoltaic panels installed on their roofs through a state program. The town is also in the running for systems at the Fairfield Fire Department headquarters, its wastewater treatment plant and its covered landfill.
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