Monday, July 20, 2009 at 11:00:34 AM - by Danny Vo

Unitil Energy Corporation, an investor-owned public utility headquartered in Hampton, New Hampshire and serving residents of New Hampshire, Maine and Massachusetts, has consented to give the town of Stratham, NH, $300,000 to build a solar roof array on the Stratham Volunteer Fire Department at the junction of Winnicut Road and Portsmouth Avenue.

The Memorandum of Understanding, signed by the Board of Selectmen on July 13, outlines the proposal, which is largely the result of advocacy on the part of Stratham native Caroline Robinson, whose goal is to transform the small town into a green energy paradigm.

Robinson formed a committee to further that objective, and has been meeting with committee members since construction began on the new fire station. According to David Canada, chairman of the Board of Selectmen, it’s a prime example of what determination can do.

It currently costs about $15,000 per year to provide the Stratham Volunteer Fire Department building with electricity. The $300,000 array will bring that cost close to zero, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and allow the station to keep operating even in the event of a power failure – providing the sun is shining. This latter feature would be a real benefit to the town’s emergency operations center, according to Selectman Tim Copeland.

Another upside to the installation, according to University of New Hampshire Energy Manager Matt O'Keefe, who sits on Robinson’s committee, is that solar panel prices are currently at all-time lows, thanks to the ongoing recession – a fact that may change, and soon, as economic indicators improve and state and federal governments pump even more money into various renewable energy subsidies.

In fact, the only downside to the Unitil gift may be the load-bearing limit of the new fire department building, but that is being carefully examined by Dan Crow, whose company (Crow Construction) oversaw the building’s completion.

Crow, who points out the great variance between solar manufacturer’s panel weights – typically from about 18 pounds or less to more than 40 pounds – is working closely with Unitil to find out which panels the utility proposes using.

The only other downside – use of the installation by Unitil as a demo site for their “green” energy capacity and commitment – could also have some effect on the proposal. But, as Canada points out, anytime someone offers you $300,000, going down to the fire station to let visitors in is a small price to pay.

The solar array still has to get approval from the New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission before Unitil and Crow can proceed. Unitil, which recently expanded its service territory via the acquisition of Northern Utilities and Granite State Gas Transmission, offers gas and electric distribution, energy planning, consulting and marketing, and e-commerce solutions for customer energy acquisitions in a deregulated marketplace.