Hopkinton goes through with solar power on public works building

HOPKINTON — The Hopkinton Town Council has approved Town Manager Brian Rosso’s request to award the Rooftop Solar Project on the Public Works building to Sol Power for a total of $153,282.

In the 2023-24 fiscal year, the town had secured a loan from the Rhode Island Infrastructure Bank for the installation of solar panels on the police department and the public works buildings, which was done through a program called EBF, or Efficient Building Fund. Town Hall was going to be included as a third project, however the scope of the project was cut back due to the uncertainty of renovations that are currently being done to the building, which left the town to take out a loan for $346,000. Part of this loan included redoing the roof, which since then has been completed.

The police department had its solar panels installed last year for $142,000, of which $30,000 was reimbursed by a Renewable Energy Fund grant, and the town is currently in the process of securing a federal tax credit for 30%, which would cover another $43,000, bringing the net cost of the project to roughly $69,000.

When the town went out and received a bid for the public works building last year, it came back at a much higher price than anticipated at around $178,000. At that time, the town did not have the funding dollars for that price and decided to revisit it the next fiscal year.

This fiscal year, the town re-bid for the project and received two bids, one from Sol Power at $153,282 and one from Highview Environmental at $177,325.

The lower bid at Sol Power, which the council voted on Sept. 2, ensures that the town only pays $66,645 for the project’s completion, which would be covered in full by the loan that the town took out in the previous fiscal year.

The debt payment service would be significantly less than the savings on the electrical bills for the public works building, as the project will produce 135% of the electricity needed for the building. This guarantees no electricity bills going forward and the town would be able to allocate those credits to other town bills, such as the electricity bill for Town Hall.

The debt service for the projects will be paid off within the next seven years, and after this time frame 100% of the profit of saving money on electricity bills will go straight back to the town, and this will be evident by year one as the cost of the debt will be less than the price of electrical costs.