The Oak Bluffs Water District (OBWD) returned to the Martha’s Vineyard Commission (MVC) public hearing process last Thursday night with a revised site plan for a solar array it proposes to build on a heavily wooded well site off Barnes Road. The Island’s regional permitting body is reviewing the project as a development of regional impact (DRI) .
Although considerable changes were made to the original solar array plan presented at a February DRI public hearing, more questions arose on Thursday night. Another public hearing is scheduled for Sept. 22.
The earlier plan, developed by Boston-based BlueWave Capital in partnership with SunEdison, 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 OBWD. The Solar Energy System (SES) would have generated about 3 megawatts of electricity a year.
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 SES plan presented Thursday calls for the clearing of 10.4 acres of wooded area, and would generate an estimated 1.6 megawatt hours a year.
One megawatt can power about 1,200 houses for a year in Massachusetts, according to the Solar Energies Industry Association.
“The acreage was reduced over concerns about recharge,” MVC executive director Adam Turner told The Times.
Recharge is the primary method through which rainwater enters an aquifer.
“Some of that land was considered Zone 1 because it surrounds a well, and it’s supposed to be natural and act as a filter,” Mr. Turner said. “Zone 2 is also protected, you can do limited things, but recharge is still the top priority. In this case, the DEP said it was OK to use the Zone 2 land for the solar array.”
Attorney Sean Murphy of Edgartown, representing Blue Wave Capital, presented commissioners with a letter from Peter Newton of Cambridge-based Bristol Engineering Advisors, which stated that the currently proposed plan would cause no damage to Zone 1 areas. “It is consistent with drinking water regulations and policies, and it does not propose removal of topsoil either within the Zone 1 or in the panel installation area … it is my professional opinion that the project presents minimal risk to adversely affect the groundwater pH or to the Oak Bluffs drinking water wells.”
Another question to be resolved is whether the 10.4 acres designated to be cleared should be held in conservation, per Chapter 97 of the state constitution. Approved by voters in November 1972, Chapter 97 requires a two-thirds roll call vote of each house of the state legislature to change the use of established parkland.
“We don’t have an answer right now regarding Chapter 97, but we’re going to speak with the DEP and hopefully have an answer by Sept. 22,” Mr. Turner said.
Foliage vs. wattage
The solar array has prompted a litany of objections based on environmental concerns from foresters who question the tradeoffs when existing woodland is cleared for industrial solar generation.
In a letter, Tim Boland, executive director of the Polly Hill Arboretum, wrote, “As a forest ecologist I am against clearing in this area, as it represents a greater opportunity to mitigate climate change through ancient forest preservation. While numerous models show the benefits of solar power, they never take into account that the existing forests, their carbon storage capacity, water filtration properties, and the abundant flora that is associated with them, are clearly worth preserving, not clearing for a temporary utility use.”
Harvard Forest director David Foster, who has done an extensive study on Martha’s Vineyard which will be published this fall by Yale University Press, wrote, “To clear thriving woodland that is actively storing carbon and mitigating climate change in order to install solar arrays is counterintuitive. But to further reduce an irreplaceable ancient ecosystem and a portion of the largest sand plain forest on the Island would be a travesty. Solar panels belong on roofs, at the bottom of gravel pits (there are many, but more room remains), and on other sites in which the native vegetation has already been removed.”
Luanne Johnson, director of BiodiversityWorks, wrote, “Solar and other renewable energy sources are important to reducing our reliance on fossil fuels and decreasing carbon emissions. However, renewable energy projects should not result in net loss of conservation land on Martha’s Vineyard. While I appreciate the efforts of Blue Wave to show that the solar array will provide a net benefit in carbon sequestration, that is not the only service this oak woodland provides for Martha’s Vineyard.”
Abutters from the Little Pond subdivision have also expressed concern about the aesthetics of the array, as well as concerns that the project will impede access to their neighborhood.
Say watt?
The project would be the first SES in Oak Bluffs. As planned, the solar panels will be three to seven and a half feet above the ground. A six-foot-high fence is proposed around the facility, which would operate 24/7. The facility would not be manned, but be monitored from offsite. No lighting has been proposed, and the noise that would be created by the SES is described as minimal.
Blue Wave Capital will cover the cost to build and operate the project, approximately $4.5 million. The cost of the previous plan was estimated at $6 million. As part of the deal, the OBWD is agreeing to a 20-year contract which lock in a 40 percent discount to today’s electricity prices.
The cost savings wouldn’t lower OBWD bills to consumers, but would defray costs of upcoming maintenance, which are considerable. OBWD superintendent Kevin Johnson has estimated over next 16 years, the Water District will need to do approximately $17.5 million of maintenance work — replacing water mains and well shafts, refurbishing pump motors, and replacing scrubber screens. The $17.5 million does not include construction of two additional wells, which will cost between $7 and $8 million each. An additional storage tank, due by 2032, will cost approximately $4 million.
Initially it appeared that the SES was on the fast track after the Oak Bluffs Planning Board (OBPB), voted unanimously 4-0 on Jan. 28 that the project should not be considered a DRI because current solar zoning bylaws, which were passed at town meeting in 2015, were sufficient for reviewing the project. But Oak Bluffs building inspector Mark Barbadoro referred the project to the MVC, and on Feb. 4, the MVC overwhelmingly voted to review the project as a DRI, in large part because the proposed parcel abuts land owned by Oak Bluffs and Edgartown, as well as the State Forest, the groundwater protection district of critical planning concern (DCPC) in Tisbury, and the Greenlands Water Resource Protection DCPC in West Tisbury.
At the time, OBPB chairman Brian Packish disagreed with the necessity of the DRI hearing, stating that current solar zoning bylaws, which were passed at town meeting in 2015, were sufficient for reviewing the project.
“It seems like a lot of duplicate process. We have bylaws in place and multiple layers of review,” he said.
Correction – a previous version of this article stated that the OBPB approved the project, when in fact, the board voted that the SES should not be a DRI.