WEST AMWELL: Residents welcome at June 21 solar session

By Linda Seida, Staff Writer
   WEST AMWELL — Township residents will have a chance in a few weeks to learn about the solar installation coming to municipal land and the local elementary school, and they will have the opportunity to ask questions of the experts.
   Swan Creek Energy is the company that will bring solar energy installations to West Amwell under an agreement with the South Hunterdon Renewable Energy Cooperative. Lambertville resident Brad Campbell, former commissioner of the state Department of Environmental Protection, heads the firm.
   Residents can hear details and ask questions during a Planning Board meeting on June 21 at 7 p.m. at the municipal building, 150 Rocktown-Lambertville Road.
   Residents who live within 200 feet of the project are especially invited to attend.
   The co-op consists of six members: West Amwell Township, West Amwell Elementary School, South Hunterdon Regional High School, the city of Lambertville, Lambertville Public School and the Lambertville Municipal Utilities Authority.
   Solar panels will be installed on the roof of the township’s elementary school and on about 5 acres of land owned by the township. The agreement in place calls for the township to earn at least $30,000 a year for hosting the panels.
   The ground panels are expected to generate 961 kilowatts of energy for West Amwell and South Hunterdon. The school will reap much of the anticipated $101,623 energy savings.
   The solar panels on the elementary school’s roof will generate 100 kilowatts of energy to service the school.
   As part of Swan Creek’s agreement with the co-op, Lambertville’s five public buildings and LPS will receive an energy audit, for a combined value of about $75,000.
   The agreement also calls for a $25,000 feasibility study for the placement of a small hydroelectric plant at the locks of the Delaware and Raritan Canal.