Solon Economou

Yarmouth Town Hall goes solar!

Some of the Cape's strongest renewable energy advocates gathered at the presentation earlier this week

  Note the solar panels affixed to the top of the Yarmouth Town Office.

Have you noticed those solar panels on the roof of the Yarmouth Town Hall on Route 28?  They consist of 60 photovoltaic modules which will be completed and fully operational by the end of this week.  It is Cape Cod's first voter-approved solar project.

The panels comprise a 10.5 kilowatt photovoltaic system which will provide 13,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity to the Town Hall every year.  The system was installed under the direction of project manager Liz Argo of Orleans, Massachusetts state director for SolarWrights, Inc., of Bristol, Rhode Island.

The system will provide electricity directly to the Town Hall.  If more electricity is being used by the town offices at any one time, additional electricity will be provided by the electrical grid.  If less electricity is being used than generated by the photovoltaic modules, the excess will be sold to the grid.

The effort was ramrodded by Peter White of Yarmouth, former candidate for Congress, running against Bill Delahunt.  Peter's grassroots efforts placed an article on last May's town meeting ballot where the town voted to appropriate $50,000 for the solar project.  This amount was matched by the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative's Small Renewables Initiative grant, making the project possible.

The presentation last night at Yarmouth Town Hall comprised a gathering of some of the Cape's strongest renewable energy advocates.  Peter is advocating solar energy for all Cape towns.  Liz has been a long-time supporter of renewable energy and  was on the Denmark trip with me in 2005 visiting Denmark's famous offshore wind farms.  And Bob Chew, president of SolarWrights, and his wife, Beth, have long practiced what they preach by installing a photovoltaic system on their own house.  They haven't had an electric bill for years. 

There must be something about the air in Yarmouth that is inspiring people to promote clean, renewable energy projects.  In addition to this solar project, Christy Mihos has installed wind turbines on his store there.  If you'll pardon the pun, as far as generating electricity from renewable energy sources goes, Yarmouth has truly seen the light.

Above images right (top): Peter White; (bottom): Bob Chew and Liz Argo. All photos by Solon Economou.