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North Haven Continues Clean Energy Upgrades and Initiatives

After earning recognition from the state of Connecticut earlier this year, North Haven is showing no signs of slowing down its efforts with clean energy initiatives and increasing solar power usage. The town’s Clean Energy Task Force is at the center of it all, helping to fully engage the town in energy conservation and solar power education.

One of the town’s biggest programs, Solarize North Haven, has returned for a second time. The residential program, part of non-profit SmartPower’s Solarize Connecticut program, began with a workshop on Nov. 16 at Green Acres School. Residents in attendance were introduced to solar installer RGS Solar, learned about financing options, and discovered if their home was a good candidate for solar.

First Selectman Michael Freda said the initiative is part of a collaboration with other organizations to increase the visibility of solar benefits. Hugh Davis, a member of the Clean Energy Task Force, said that more than 20 homes installed solar panels as a result of the last Solarize North Haven initiative.

In addition to Solarize North Haven, Davis notes that the town has installed an electric vehicle-charging station in the parking lot behind the Recreation Center. The lot, installed with help from a $15,000 grant, allows owners of electric vehicles to charge their cars for free. A third party is expected to add new vehicle charging stations in the parking lot of the Target plaza on Universal Drive. Those stations will also be free.

An additional $15,000 grant was secured and used in part to replace an old boiler at the historical society. Grant funding also provided approximately 1,000 residents with free home energy audits.

Freda said the town is continuing to work on the expansion of the solar panel system at the former landfill that helps power the Water Pollution Control Authority, the number one energy user in town. The landfill closed about 24 years ago, and Freda said that he wanted to do something productive with the property. The solar array that was installed there currently produces about one-third of a megawatt. The plan is to expand it to double the current output.

“By offsetting a lot of the electrical costs there through the utilization of solar, that saves us a tremendous amount of energy costs at that facility,” Freda said.

Davis said that the town also has plans to add solar panels to the solar array at the high school.

North Haven was awarded the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection’s GreenCircle Sustainability Award in June 2017 for its clean energy work and projects conducted in 2016.