School Committee told solar developer must rewire 1,600 panels at own expense

LINCOLN -- February 8, 2024, Lincoln School Committee learns solar developer must rework all 1,600 rooftop panels after inverter mismatch. Buck Creel told the committee Thursday that Total Energies, the PPA holder, will deploy an eight-person crew for roughly two and a half months to swap module-level shutdown devices costing "in excess of $50,000," entirely at the developer's expense. Town counsel found no realistic basis to recover roughly $18,000 in lost electricity savings under the PPA's force-majeure terms, Creel said, warning against "step[ping] on the toes of our dance partner before the music has even started." Member Kenneth Lepage pressed on the lost savings; Administrator for Business and Finance Mary Ellen Normen, who is retiring, said she is holding the roughly $500,000 electricity line steady because annual solar savings are projected at just $60,000 to $100,000 against a budget that also covers $93,000 in Hartwell electricity. Superintendent Parry Graham said finalists Angela Wang and David Gordon interviewed this week, with a successor vote set for March 7.