Mayor Michael Tautznik hopes to see the landfill solar project providing electricity soon.
EASTHAMPTON — Engineers for Borrego Solar Systems Inc. are trying to work out another glitch in the city’s Oliver Street solar array project so it can become fully operational.
Borrego, which has an office in Lowell, was on the site of the solar array last week working on seeding and grading the landfill site and trying to solve one more problem with an automatic shutoff should the system need to shut down in the case of live wires.
Mayor Michael A. Tautznik said a prior communication glitch between Western Massachusetts Electric and Verizon has been solved.
Michael A. TautznikWhile the system has been connected to the Western Massachusetts Electric grid, it has not been providing power in any kind of sustained way, he said.
“We’ve been start and stop,” he said. The system, consequently, has not been declared operational.
“The 10-year clock (with Borrego) hasn’t started running.” The city signed a 10-year lease with the company to provide power to the city.
The array was the first such project under construction in the state. The 2.3-megawatt installation is expected to save residents $1.5 million on power over 10 years.
But being the first has produced minor issues. And Tautznik said the city cannot operate the system until it is safe.
Tautznik had been hoping the project would save the city $84,000 in electricity costs this fiscal year.
Work on the array was completed in December.
The mayor said he expects the project to be operational any day now. “We’re looking forward to it being operational.”
He said this way the city will start saving money and adding electricity to the power grid.
Solar projects have come on line in Holyoke and Springfield. Ludlow officials signed a lease with Borrego in March and Amherst officials are still planning to move ahead with a project on a capped landfill in that town, among the area communities seeking power from the sun.