Enfield considers a large solar array and climate change

Broadbrook Road, Enfield, just south of the Jarmoc Farms entrance. I don't know if photo is showing part of the actual array site, but it does say something of the character of the area. 

The Reddit group named "Collapse" is as depressing as it gets. Its posts are about climate change mostly, but it welcomes anything alarming. The premise is that "collapse" -- societal, environmental, economic -- is inevitable. The only remaining issue to debate is its timing. An outcome of this discussion are posts by people describing their dread and hopelessness over the future. I tell myself that the worst-case climate change disaster is not inevitable. I half suspect that the people who truly accept "collapse" may have something wrong with them, but also wonder if I'm lying to myself.

Bill McKibben, the environmental writer and activist, sees the globe on pace for a 3.5 degree Celsius increase (about 7 degrees Fahrenheit) in temperature by 2100.  "Given the grim science, it's a fair question whether anything can be done to slow the planet's rapid warming," he wrote in a piece for The New York Review of Books about the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report. He is not alone. After reading the same report, James Fahn, a science journalist wrote in Scientific American that, "The situation, in other words, is much worse than people thought."

Enfield is being asked to do its part to prevent collapse, although they aren't framing the issue this way. Town officials from planning and zoning, conservation and economic development held a special meeting Nov. 7 to conduct a site walk at Jarmoc Farms, 65 Broadbrook Road, concerning “the proposed large-scale solar array" -- a 19.6 MW project on what is now farm land. Part of the land was used, most recently, for tobacco, pumpkin and squash crops.

From pumpkins to carbon removal

The plan is to install fixed tilted solar panels generating enough power to meet the electricity needs of 4,300 homes. The power will go to local utilities, Eversource and United Illuminating, and reduce carbon emissions. The C02 reduction equals "to taking 38,000 passenger vehicles off the road for one year," wrote the firm, in a filing to the state.

In October, Nutmeg Solar submitted a petition to the state as part of the approval process for the solar array. The project area is 162 acres on the east side of Broadbrook Road. Nutmeg Solar is part of NextEra Energy, a Florida based firm. This a major clean energy firm with revenues of more than than $17 billion.

The Broadbrook land is relatively flat and located near an electrical substation. NextEra has been working on this proposal with landowners since 2015.

The Enfield Economic Development Committee reviewed the project last year. At that time, according to the minutes of the meeting, the energy firm said if it gets approval, the $30 million capital project will "generate around $500,000 in local tax revenue."

The debate over the solar array

Some neighbors aren't happy with the plan and worry about its impact on property values and the character of the area, according to the Journal Inquirer.

For Enfield, this decision will be made on local concerns. People will certainly note the environmental benefits, but will give ample considerations to neighbor concerns.

[Edit: Enfield's role may be advisory. The approval of the project may rest with the state Siting Council.]

Solar arrays aren't new and the debate over appropriate locations has a long history. The questions that Enfield has ought to be answerable.

On the Reddit Collapse forum, the idea that technology can reverse the planet's course is largely dismissed. People who believe otherwise are accused of having an optimism bias. Too much planetary warming has already been locked in, they will argue. The planet is too disorganized and the leadership incapable of taking action. Will Enfield be yet one more proof point?

What Enfield does won't matter on Collapse. You can't argue for hope in that forum. The only acceptable position is to endorse the inevitability of collapse or else your Reddit comment will be voted down. But I can't and won't accept this. What we do to reduce carbon emissions can and will matter.