Sandwich City Council approves solar farm along Sandy Bluff Road

The Sandwich City Council Monday night gave the green light to a proposal to develop a community solar farm along Sandy Bluff Road.

City Council members unanimously approved a special use permit for Turning Point Energy to build a community solar farm on approximately 28 acres at 599 Sandy Bluff Road. The Sandwich Plan Commission at its May 9 meeting recommended approval of a special use permit for the project.

“In all, this will be a quiet neighbor.”

—  Alex Mendelson, senior development manager for Turning Point Energy

Alex Mendelson, senior development manager for Turning Point Energy, presented City Council members with updated plans for the proposed community solar farm. According to Turning Point’s website, community solar enables businesses and residents with unsuitable or insufficient space for on-site solar to realize the value of clean energy consumption.

A community solar farm produces electricity and the electricity produced becomes net metering credits. Individuals, municipalities and businesses can then sign up to receive a share of the net metering credits.

Net metering credits from the electricity produced by the community solar farm are applied to each customer’s monthly electric bill.

“In all, this will be a quiet neighbor,” Mendelson told City Council members. “There will be no glare and it will improve soil quality. There won’t be traffic generated and there will be no use of water or sewer. There will be no permanent parking.”

The project also will not negatively affect property values, he said.

“We presented evidence to that,” Mendelson said.

In addition, he said the project would not generate emissions or noise.