$750M solar power project may include site in AttleboroThe Sun Chronical, Tuesday, January 6, 2009 2:15 AM EST ATTLEBORO - An alternative energy firm is eyeing sites in the city to lease for a planned $750 million solar power project. Junaid Yasin of Ansar Energy LLC said his firm wants to find a number of locations across the state for solar panels with a goal of generating and selling 100 megawatts of electricity. Worcester Airport is already on his list of sites. Other locations in Attleboro, Greenfield, Lowell, Gardner and communities in the Berkshires will be studied for their feasibility. Yasin said his firm is interested in capped landfills and other sites owned by cities and towns. He said the firm is willing to pay approximately $15,000 an acre per year for a long-term lease. The sites should be at least 20 acres and be accessible to the power grid, he said. Leasing 20 acres to the firm would mean $300,000 in annual income to the city. "This is an absolutely intriguing possibility," said state Sen. James Timilty, D-Walpole, who is pushing for the project at the state level. "I don't see a downside," he said. Attleboro Assessor Stanley Nacewicz said he, Mayor Kevin Dumas and others will meet with Ansar Energy Friday to talk about three sites in Attleboro. All three sites have power lines nearby, he said. Nacewicz said he would like Ansar to lease all three sites, which could mean revenue of $1 million or more to the city - with no costs. Yasin said he has attorneys, consultants and a construction firm lined up to begin the project as soon as contracts with utilities and leases with cities can be obtained. About one-third of the financing would come from government grants, with the rest obtained privately, he said. The contracts with the utilities would be used to leverage the financing, he said. Yasin said he has already talked to Lt. Gov. Tim Murray and U.S. Rep. James McGovern, D-Worcester, about his plans. McGovern represents both Worcester and Attleboro. Murray is heading up a task force to compile a list of priority projects to be funded if and when Congress approves President-elect Barack Obama's economic stimulus package. Obama has said alternative energy projects will be a key component of his package. Timilty said the solar project is deep into the design phase and would be "shovel ready" to start construction if it is included in the stimulus plan. Nacewicz said he got interested in the project after reading media accounts of Gov. Deval Patrick's "Green Energy Plan," which calls on the state to generate 15 percent of its power from renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power. Nacewicz said he got in contact with Ansar and has been suggesting the Attleboro sites as possibilities. "We would never use that land for anything else," he said. Yasin said solar panels can be erected quickly with little impact to the sites. He said closed landfills are a possibility because they are idle land with little reuse potential. Solar panels do not hurt the caps on closed landfills because the panels are anchored to concrete blocks, rather than pilings driven into the ground, he said. |