DURHAM — An upcoming solar power plant project might soon bring clean energy to about 430 homes in town.
The solar power generating facility will be constructed by Louth Callan Renewables, a Suffield-based company that specializes in renewable energy projects. The company plans to start construction in the spring of next year.
The solar panels will be set up on a 49-acre field parcel fronting Haddam Quarter Road and Johnson Lane. While the contractors might take down some of the trees, the forest bordering Hersig Brook will remain, said Daniel Band, Louth Callan Renewables director of development.
“A project of this size takes thousands of tons of CO2 out of the air and also erases hundreds of pounds of other pollutants from the air,” Band said.
The solar power generating facility will operate at a relatively low sound level, said Brad Parsons, a manager of civil engineering at All Points Technology Corporation.
Transformers might make about 70 decibels of noise, which is equivalent to noise produced by an air conditioner, Parsons said.
“Sound will decrease over a certain distance,” said Parsons. “A 70-decibels transformer over a distance of 25 feet away drops down to about 42 decibels, which is equivalent to a light rain.”
The fence surrounding the solar plant is projected to be seven feet high.
The project is currently in a municipal consultation process, meaning that in the next two months, the municipality can develop comments and recommendations to the project application, which will then be submitted to the Connecticut Siting Council.
Attorney Kenneth Baldwin, of Robinson & Cole LLP Law Firm, said the project is still at its preliminary stage.
“The parts of this project that are most important are still developing,” said Baldwin. “We will make sure that the municipality, the Planning and Zoning Commission, the Inland Wetlands Commission, the First Selectwoman, and residents are up to speed of every aspect of this project as we proceed to the Siting Council process.”
The solar power generating facility is projected to be completed by June of 2022.
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