Westbrook will soon participate in a virtual net metering (VNM) program that will save the town up to $205,000 per year in electricity costs, according to Ad Hoc Energy Committee (EC) Chair Chris Ehlert.

The state program enables developers to install solar arrays and allot shares of the energy output to municipalities at a contracted rate. The town pays the vendor at the reduced rate and the Eversource credits that purchase of energy back to the town at the market rate. The town applies that savings—the difference between the rate paid to the developer and the amount credited back per kilowatt hour (kWh)—to its additional electricity needs.

Westbrook has contracted with Madison Solar, LLC, which is constructing a 5 megawatt (MW) solar array on a 43-acre property in Somers. The 20-year contract specifies that the town pay Madison Solar nine cents per kWh; Westbrook, in turn, will receive credit per kWh purchased at the market rate. According to Ehlert, the market rate was recently 16.6 cents per kWh, and that rate is expected to continually increase. The town currently pays market rate for its electricity (with the exception of the school district, which has a contract with an alternative supplier), he said.

The town’s savings through this VNM program will be capped at $205,000 per year.

Five municipal buildings will take part in the project: the three public schools, the Westbrook Library, and Town Hall. These buildings were chosen because they’re the largest energy consumers among town buildings, Ehlert explained. The VNM program allows towns to include up to five Eversource meters.

The solar array in Somers will produce a total of five megawatts of power; Westbrook has contracted for one megawatt of that output with a maximum of 1.4 megawatts. While this won’t cover all the town’s electricity needs, it will significantly reduce its energy bill.

The arrangement came about through a consultant working with the EC, who pinpointed this opportunity and helped the committee put in an application while the state VNM program was still in its pilot phase, Ehlert said. It then had to apply to Eversource, as well. The town’s contract with Madison Solar specifies that the solar array must operate at 80 percent capacity at minimum.

“We negotiated that in our agreement: a minimum performance clause to ensure that the town obtains savings,” he said.

Another benefit of VNM is that it doesn’t require the town to place solar panels on a roof or other structure, and the vendor, not the town, is liable for maintenance of the array.

To further reduce electricity costs, Ehlert plans to have the committee work on getting a better rate for the town, which purchases electricity through Eversource at market rate, he said. The school district’s contract with an alternative supplier won’t affect this net metering program—the two “complement each other,” he said.

“The town does not do any alternative supplier agreements, even though we, as the EC...have urged them to do so,” Ehlert said. “They pay whatever the rate is. They could piggy back on with the school. It’s going to be something that I’m going to be working on going forward.”

Community Solar Project

According to Ehlert, the EC plans to work toward creating community solar project (also known as shared solar) sometime in 2020.

“Not everybody has the opportunity to obtain solar,” he said. “You could be a renter, you could be on a piece of property that’s wooded, which a lot of our lots here in Westbrook are.”

The program, which was created via state legislation, is similar to the VNM program, but operates on a local basis. Individual homeowners or renters, local businesses, condominiums, and/or municipal entities contract with the developer of a nearby solar array for their electricity and are credited by the utility company for their purchase.

Regulations for the state program are still being hammered out. The state Department of Energy & Environmental Protection (DEEP) delivered its rules to the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) by the mandated July 1 deadline. PURA has until Jan. 1, 2020 to review and approve them.

There is a dispute in Hartford about a number of provisions, such as the requirement that 10 percent of subscribers be low income and an additional 40 percent be low to moderate income.

Once the details are sorted out, Ehlert said, the “EC is committed to...put out an RFP to develop a solar array project out on the old landfill here in town, which will [allow] residents and businesses to purchase solar energy.”