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Town hears option to buy Gray landfill solar array; presentation estimates $655,000 fair-market price
Summary
An asset manager told the Gray Town Council the town could purchase its landfill solar array for about $655,000, potentially avoiding about $1.36 million in future PPA payments and yielding an estimated net benefit of roughly $482,000 over the remaining contract term, though removal costs and production degradation require further study.
Tanner Schmidt, who identified himself as asset manager for the landfill solar array owner, told the council the Gray landfill array began operation in December 2020 and is enrolled in Maine's net energy billing program administered through CMP.
Schmidt said he calculated a fair-market purchase price of approximately "$655,000" and estimated that by owning the array outright the town would avoid roughly "$1,360,000" in future power-purchase payments over the remaining 19 years of the contract. "The net benefit to the town, should they exercise their option to purchase, would equate to, you know, essentially 482,000," Schmidt said while outlining assumptions about production, a 0.5% annual degradation factor and a $137,000 equipment-replacement allowance built into his analysis.
Council members pressed for more details about yearly operations-and-maintenance costs and end-of-life responsibilities. Schmidt said historical annual operations-and-maintenance averaged about "$3,337 per year," and that under the current contract the owner would be responsible for panel removal in 2045 if the town did not renew the PPA. He also noted the town has received about "$440,000" in net energy billing credits from 2021'025 while paying roughly "$282,000" to the owner over that period, producing an approximate net benefit of "$160,000" to date.
Council members asked staff to return with follow-up information before any decision: an independent valuation or third-party review, an estimate for dismantling and disposal in 2045, and a clearer breakdown of which town CMP accounts are enrolled in the array's NEB credits. The council did not vote on a purchase at this meeting.
