Construction of the state’s largest solar array is set to wrap up by the end of the year.
The project, in Moultonborough, will help power the New Hampshire Electric Cooperative's grid.
The array is the first energy source the Electric Co-op will own and operate itself -- it buys the rest of its power for its 84,000 customers, in 115 towns across the state, on the open market.
The new solar project will only cover about 1 percent of that load, but spokesman Seth Wheeler says it’s a long-term investment.
"We're always going to know what that power is going to cost us, versus you don't really know, going forward 25 years from now, if the price of power on the open market may double,” Wheeler says.
Twenty-five years is how long the array's 8,000 panels are expected to last. But Wheeler describes the Moultonborough array as a pilot project to see how much savings it generates.
The project cost $5 million, contributing to a rate hike of just under a dollar for co-op customers next year.
