Oak Bluffs Water District postpones MVC hearing on solar array

Proponents BlueWave capital said more time is needed to complete environmental studies.

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The proposed Water District Solar site, on the Edgartown/Oak Bluffs town line, south of Goodale's sand pit. — Photo Created with Google Maps

A scheduled Thursday night public hearing before the Martha’s Vineyard Commission (MVC) on the Oak Bluffs Water District proposal to build a Solar Energy System (SES) on a heavily wooded well site off Barnes Road was postponed at the request of the Water District.

Sean Murphy of Edgartown, attorney for Boston-based BlueWave Capital, the company that will build and maintain the solar array, told The Times that more time is needed to complete water quality and environmental studies.

The MVC is reviewing the project as a development of regional impact (DRI). The DRI review process began in February. An earlier plan by BlueWave Capital would have required clearing 20 acres of wooded area on a 45-acre parcel on the west side of Barnes Road, which is owned by the Water District. The SES would have generated about 3 megawatts of electricity a year, according to BlueWave estimates.

Addressing concerns that too much of the facility was on sensitive wellhead land, also defined as Zone 1 by the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), the revised plan presented to the MVC on September 1 called for the clearing of 5 acres of wooded area, and for a smaller SES that would generate an estimated 1.6 megawatt hours a year.
The scaled down SES still prompted a litany of objections based on environmental concerns from foresters who question the tradeoffs when existing woodland is cleared for industrial solar generation.
Another matter to be resolved is whether existing state conservation protections allow the five acres designated to be cleared for a SES. 

The next DRI public hearing will be on Thursday, October 6.