09/05/09 - Fred S. Hashway, Jr., director of the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation, met with town officials Tuesday to bestow a $70,000 check to cover the lion’s share of a new solar energy system that will be installed to power Town Hall.

The total cost of the project is $98,435, and money originally set aside for the Town Hall construction project will cover the remaining $28,435. A solar system was “always intended” for the building, says town Finance Director Amy Land.

Town Manager Nancy Dodge, joined by First Warden Kim Gaffett, offered her thanks for the funds. Dodge said she was “delighted” to receive such a sum in such difficult economic times. She said contractor Mystic Solar would begin work soon, and the entire system should be up and running by October. The 12 kw system should handle up to 60 percent of the building’s electricity needs, based on an average monthly bill of $1,300, said Mike Riley of Mystic Solar.

The money comes via the Rhode Island Renewable Energy Fund, which bestows about $2.5 million annually for similar projects.

Hashway praised New Shoreham’s “steps toward being a greener town.” He also lauded the island for its “support of Deepwater Wind” and its efforts to create the nation’s first offshore wind farm in Block Island waters.

He pointed out that Block Island could be at the center of a $50 billion industry stretching from Maine to Delaware. He pointed to Providence Journal environmental writer Peter Lord whom he said couldn’t “find anything negative to say” about the Deepwater project.

Gaffett agreed that it was an exciting time, and pointed out that Block Island has the opportunity to potentially become the first community in the United States that garnered all of its energy from clean, non-fossil fuel sources.