Growing a showcase of energy in Beverly

BEVERLY -- In 1980, the federal government chose a tract of city-owned land next to Beverly High School to help showcase the potential of renewable energy.

Despite setbacks, the site still serves that function nearly a quarter century later. An array of 300 solar panels installed in 1981 and a wind turbine added in 1997 continue to operate, supplying the city with some electricity and helping area schools teach children about nonpolluting energy.

Solar Now, the nonprofit created a decade ago to oversee the site, has now come up with a plan to broaden the mission of the project and public involvement in it.

The Solar Garden Initiative involves building a series of gardens adjacent to the solar and wind facilities. The gardens, which could include herb and Japanese plantings, would use an irrigation system powered by the solar array and wind turbine.

Along with the gardens would be walkways, an outdoor lecture hall, picnic area, and exhibits designed to demonstrate renewable energy, such as a greenhouse powered by a solar heat pump.

In October, the nonprofit Massachusetts Technology Collaborative awarded Solar Now $30,000 to prepare the site for the Solar Garden Initiative. The money came from a state fund administered by the collaborative that supports renewable energy projects.

It is hoped that the ground will be ready by summer for the initial gardens to be planted, said John W. Coleman, a former Beverly School Committee member and retired senior research physicist who is director of Solar Now.

Solar Now plans a campaign to raise funds to develop all the features of the initiative. The total cost is being determined.

Coleman said the gardens are a natural addition to the site because, like wind and solar instruments, they demonstrate ecologically friendly activity.

Coleman, who led the effort to install the solar panels in 1981, said his hope is that the Solar Garden Initiative will make the site an ''eco-tourist destination."

''For 25 years, it's been used exclusively by teachers and students on field trips," he said. ''Now we want to open it up so that families can learn."

A secondary objective is to generate revenues to help make Solar Now self-sustaining, Coleman said. Eventually, it is hoped enough money could be generated to provide income for the city.

Mayor William F. Scanlon Jr. said he supports the Solar Garden Initiative.

''This solar display goes way back in time and it's struggled in recent years. But this is a new twist and I'm hopeful. John is indefatigable," he said of Coleman.

Coleman said that a long-term goal is to seek city permission to expand the Solar Garden onto three adjoining city-owned acres.

The Beverly High School site was one of eight across the country chosen by the Carter administration in 1980 to demonstrate the use of photovoltaic cells to convert solar energy to electricity.

Launched amid the energy crisis, the program was designed to promote greater use of alternative energies. The federal government covered the $3 million cost of the 100-kilowatt Beverly system, which generates enough electricity for about 15 homes.

With the easing of the oil crisis, interest in alternative energy waned and the seven other sites were discontinued in the 1980s. The Beverly site remained, ''virtually forgotten" by residents, according to Solar Now's website.

An environmental educator who worked with the Beverly schools, Carmel Valianti-Smith, helped revitalize the Beverly site in 1994. Valianti-Smith helped launch Solar Now and worked with Coleman to secure federal funds to upgrade the site.