Developer plans $45 million solar energy farm in Rhode Island
COVENTRY, R.I.—A former hazardous waste site in Coventry could be converted into the largest solar energy farm east of the Mississippi River.
New York-based Allco Renewable Energy signed a letter of intent Tuesday to build the $45 million project on a 100-acre tract of town-owned land that was once home to a pig farm.
A portion of the farm was declared a federal Superfund site in the 1980s.
Coventry has agreed to give Allco a 50-year lease and the company has agreed to make payments of $200,000 a year or 4 percent of gross receipts to the town, whichever is greater.
The project calls for hundreds of 3-foot-by-5-foot solar panels that would rotate from east to west throughout the day.
Allco will also look into whether wind turbines could be placed at the site.
