Behind the dairy barn at the Temple-Wilton Community Farm, there is a strip of land.
It’s a manmade berm of rock, built up to give the cows a way to access the back pasture, but without enough soil for grazing or growing, that’s about its only use. But by next year, it will hopefully be producing enough energy to power most of the farm’s buildings.
Lincoln Geiger and Anthony Graham, two of the founders of the Temple-Wilton Community Farm, appeared before the Wilton Planning Board on Wednesday night, seeking approval for a large, ground-mounted solar array that will power the farm’s barns, workshops and apprentice house.
“We have been interested in the thought for many years,” Graham said, in an interview at the farm on Thursday. “It’s been on our agenda for a long time.”
They walked away from the Planning Board with that approval in hand, but they are also working with their partner agencies to get final approvals. The land where the farm sits is protected by several easements, and has been classified as prime agricultural land. The berm where they want to install the array certainly isn’t prime soil, Graham noted – it was once a wetland, filled in with rocks to create a pathway to the back field, and isn’t any use beyond that for farming. But to satisfy the conditions of the protections on the land, Graham and Geiger will have to use a soil scientist to prove that the strip isn’t good agricultural soil before they move forward.
They’re willing to do that, they said, to continue growing the vision of the farm as a sustainable part of the community.
“That has been our general mode of operation since the beginning – biodynamic, organic, and we’re working on being more energy-efficient,” Geiger said.
The system is designed for 158 solar panels generating 63.99 kilowatts in two ground-mounted solar electric systems.
“That’s a lot of light bulbs,” joked Geiger.
“It’s a lot of freezers and milk pumps, is what it mostly is,” added Graham.
The farm plans to purchase the system through Revision Energy, which offers a program where owners can have a system installed and make payments on it over time. For now, Graham said, they will simply shift their utility payment to payments for the system, with hopes to buy out the rest of the payments in about five years.
Graham said while overall, buying the system will provide savings on electricity, it’s also important just to be a small part of converting energy away from fossil fuels – and to be a community leader in green energy.
“To be able to provide your own electricity, and take that burden off the grid – if enough people are doing that, we can bring down the number of energy plants that may be using materials that are not so friendly for the environment,” Graham said.
“We are a big focal point in the community,” Geiger said. “Hopefully, when people see it, they will start to think about it a little more for themselves, if they haven’t already.”
Graham said the array will likely be installed in the spring.
During Wednesday night’s hearing, the Planning Board also gave approval to another Revision Energy solar installation, a smaller ground-mounted system for a residence on 20 Mackintosh Drive. The board approved a 24-panel system, which will provide 10.32 kilowatts of electricity to power batteries installed in the home, with the excess sold to the power grid.
The Planning Board approved both systems, with the condition that the applicants either provide erosion control measures under the arrays, or provide evidence that the area will not be impacted by rainwater erosion.
Ashley Saari can be reached at 924-7172 ext. 244 or asaari@ledgertranscript.com. She’s on Twitter @AshleySaariMLT.