Date: March 25, 2008
Source: Associated Press
New York-based Allco Renewable Energy plans to develop a $45 million solar energy project atop a former hazardous waste site near Coventry, RI. It promises to be the largest solar energy farm east of the Mississippi River. Coventry has agreed to give Allco a 50-year lease and the company has agreed to make payments $200,000 a year or 4% of electricity sales to the town. Allco will also look into whether wind turbines could be placed at the site. In November they proposed to build a major wind farm off the coast of Rhode Island.
The Coventry solar farm will consist of hundreds of 3-feet by 5-feet solar panels that would fill 90% of the 100-acre site. Each panel would sit atop a motorized base to keep them oriented toward the sun as the Earth turns. The farm is expected to generate up to 8 megawatts of electricity.
