Montville ―Verogy, a West Hartford-based solar energy company with a location in West Hartford, is in the final stages of permitting that will allow the company to build a solar array on top of a 2.4-acre portion of the town’s transfer station.

“As we are a town that is very supportive of solar power, we had always believed that the landfill was an opportunistic site for an array,” Mayor Ron McDaniel said Tuesday.

The array will include approximately 1,700 panels that will provide approximately 960,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of energy to the Eversource electric grid, Verogy Manager of Permitting James Cerkanowicz said Monday. That is enough electricity to power 132 homes per year.

Verogy will sell the energy to Eversource, McDaniel said. In turn, it will receive credits for Non-Residential Renewable Energy Solutions (NRES), an Eversource incentive program, he said.

Meanwhile, Verogy will pay the the town $40,000 per year for 20 years, or $800,000 total, to lease the property, McDaniel said. The town will still receive the payments if the panels are not producing energy due to weather, mechanical issues or anything else that might halt production, McDaniel said.

The town had hired energy adviser Titan Energy to develop, issue and assist in evaluating Verogy’s proposal, McDaniel said. In December 2021, the Town Council voted to approve the lease with Verogy as the contractor. McDaniel signed the lease in February 2022.

Verogy still needs site plan approval from the town’s Planning and Zoning Commission, along with permits from the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection for the project, Cerkanowicz said.

Verogy has submitted its site plan application to the Planning and Zoning Commission and DEEP over the past month, Cerkanowicz said.

At the July 25 Planning and Zoning Commission meeting, Cerkanowicz gave a presentation on the project to the commission in hopes of winning site plan approval, but several commissioners voiced concerns over the structures and said they were unfamiliar with details of the lease agreement.

The commission postponed further discussion and a vote on the application until its Aug. 22 meeting.

At that meeting, Cerkanowicz said he will be joined by Verogy Director of Design and Permitting Brad Parsons.

“We will be reiterating that we have met the requirements of the planning and zoning regulations and address any questions or outstanding concerns,” Cerkanowicz said. “I think the comments at (last week’s) meeting were recommending an approval.”

If the site plan is approved, Verogy’s next step will be to apply for a local building permit.

The array will be built on a capped section of the landfill that can no longer be used.

“Basically we’re helping produce renewable energy on a site that had no former use,” Cerkanowicz said Monday.

Capping is a process that involves placing a cover over contaminated material such as landfill waste or contaminated soil in order to prevent the spread of contamination. The cap is made from layers of soil, forming a clay that is impervious to water, Cerkanowicz said.

The solar array will be mounted on the surface of the cap as it is not permissible to excavate it.

Gravel will be used to level the area on top of the cap, then concrete blocks will be set on top of the gravel, into which a steel structure will fit. The panels will fit into that steel structure, Cerkanowicz said.

Land Use and Development Director Liz Burdick emphasized that no work will be done that could disrupt operation of the transfer station.

d.drainville@theday.com

Editor’s note: This version corrects the location of Verogy’s headquarters.