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This crew worked long hard hours all summer long installing the landfill solar array in Norfolk.
Photo by Jennifer Almquist
According to First Selectman Matt Riiska, “The solar array on Town Farm is on our former landfill, land that cannot be used for anything else.”
The multi-year project began when Riiska established the Norfolk Energy Advisory Committee (NEAC) in 2018 to investigate energy sources and make the most of the energy resources for the town. Members of NEAC include Susannah Wood, Paul Madore, and Hartley Mead. The committee head, Norfolk resident Tom Strumolo, contacted his friend Kirt Mayland, a University of Connecticut professor and an expert on solar projects.
Mayland, an Energy Fellow at the Connecticut Institute for Resilience & Climate Adaptation, (CIRCA) recalled, “Matt and I, and the town energy committee, started thinking about this project years ago when I noticed Eversource was constructing and upgrading lines servicing the wind farm in Colebrook. That upgrade in service opened new solar capacity on the lines that was not there before, so we were quick to jump on that, and lock it in before another solar developer scooped it up on, most likely, a less desirable site such as farmland. Locking in the interconnection rights to the grid was key to moving the project forward.”
Selectman Riiska continued, “Working with Kirt we developed our plan and worked with Eversource to establish the interconnect agreement so the power produced could be sent to the grid. Kirt also established a relationship between Norfolk and Lodestar Energy. After reviewing several possible solar energy companies to partner with, we chose Lodestar in Avon. We then worked with an attorney to draft a contract with Lodestar.”
The solar project has now been sold to New Jersey Resources (NJR) “The benefit to the Town is that we receive $42,000 per year in revenue from NJR,” added Riiska, “This increases each year by 1.5%. This is needed revenue for the Town.
Norfolk has spent very little town money on this project. All application fees, legal contracts, and installation costs have been absorbed by Lodestar and NJR. Plus, the array will be maintained by NJR. This includes maintenance of the equipment, mowing, and maintaining the area around the array.
NEAC chair Strumolo explained, “The technology up there is called “ballasted arrays” which means the poles are held in place by piles of stones instead of being driven into the earth. The former landfill is covered with a membrane which must remain intact, no holes.”
Jeff Macel, managing director at Lodestar Energy, said, “The project offers significant carbon debt reduction of 4,249 metric tons removed from the environment annually, with a lifetime reduction of 148,715 metric tons. The carbon offset is the equivalent of removing 32,095 gas-powered cars from the road over the life of the project or powering 18,760 houses over the life of the project.
Norfolk solar array nears completion.Photo by Jennifer Almquist
Located on a capped landfill, this array demonstrates adaptive reuse by utilizing real estate that has no other viable uses.”
When asked if bears pose a threat to the ground-mounted photovoltaic array, Macel noted that the solar panels are raised 4 to 6 feet off the ground to allow small animals to graze or move through the fields. Bears, however, should not be able to fit underneath.
Mayland, currently an assistant visiting professor at the Institute for Energy and the Environment at the Vermont Law and Graduate School, noted, “This is the first [array] to go up on a capped landfill. Under SCEF (aka community solar) low-income customers of Eversource will receive a monthly credit on their electric bills from this facility to help reduce their electricity expenses. It is a great project in that it is not only bringing the town revenue (and already has for several years) from a capped landfill that really had no other uses, but also is helping low-income residents in CT at a time when electricity prices are at record highs.”
According to Macel, “Norfolk Solar was awarded a fixed 20-year contract for all energy and environmental attributes in Year 2two of the SCEF program, a statewide project which will help the state achieve its renewable portfolio standard. This project represents a significant savings to CT ratepayers with a power purchase price of approximately 5.99 cents per kilowatt hour. The price is fixed for 20 years and will not escalate.”
Founder and owner of Energy General LLC, Strumolo also wrote Decentralizing Energy Production (Brown and Strumolo, Yale Press, 1983) which defined the modern distributed, deregulated electricity grid - in 1983. He is committed to “creating adequate and equitable responses to our changing climate.”
In a recent interview in Norfolk Now, Strumolo said, “As we turn into a clean energy culture, solar power will make up more of our grid and meet more of Norfolk citizens’ power needs. While our landfill project will have a tiny impact on overall emissions, its impact on local emissions will be profound if it inspires our neighbors to put out their fossil fuel fires and replace them with solar power. Most importantly, it will help raise general awareness of what is a global problem—our emissions impact on the whole world.”
GNH's Owne Riemer, no. 8, finished with 35 reception yards and 15 rushing yards in the first half.
Photo by Riley Klein
GNH strung together several promising drives with long passes from quarterback Ty Devita. Ansonia stayed strong in the red zone and forced five turnovers-on-downs in the game.
Last season, GNH ended with a record of 7-5 and departed the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CIAC) Class SS playoff tournament in the semifinal game with a loss to Watertown. Ansonia finished with a 10-2 record last year and ended on a loss to Cromwell/Portland in the semifinals of the CIAC Class S tournament.
The 2024 season-opening match was well attended with approximately 250 fans paying admission to enter Van Why Field in Winsted. It was about 77 degrees at kick off with a light breeze and strong sun.
Ansonia set out on the ground from the start. QB Matteo Sorrentino and RB Quintez Whittle created a powerful one-two punch in the backfield. The Chargers marched into the end zone on the opening drive and led throughout.
Ansonia's Quintez Whittle, no. 9, had three touchdowns and 207 rushing yards in the Saturday, Sept. 4 game between Ansonia and GNH.Photo by Riley Klein
GNH found a scoring chance in its first possession when Owen Riemer reeled in a 35-yard reception at the five-yard line. Ansonia locked down the goal line and prevented a touchdown to maintain a 7-0 lead.
GNH wide receiver Wes Allyn leapt for a high pass in the end zone late in the second quarter, but Ansonia corner back Jahzari Lawson snatched it out of his hands for a mid-air interception. Ansonia took a 28-0 lead by halftime.
Ansonia proceeded to run down the clock and add two more scores in the second half.
In the fourth quarter, GNH got on the board when QB Ty Devita snuck out of the pocket and dove into the end zone for a nine-yard touchdown. The game ended 42-7.
Ansonia was led offensively by Quintez Whittle with three TDs and 207 rushing yards. QB Matteo Sorrentino rushed for two TDs and totaled 157 rushing yards. Chrishon Fogle rushed for 76 yards and a touchdown and Jayden Jackson rushed for 25 yards.
GNH’s QB Ty Devita passed for 140 yards and scored a rushing touchdown for the Yellowjackets. RB Mason Sobol ran for 42 yards and WR Everett Rigby ended with 68 receiving yards. Owen Riemer finished with 35 reception yards and 15 rushing yards in the first half. He did play the second half after taking a hard hit to the head late in the second quarter.
GNH will travel to Municipal Stadium in Waterbury Thursday, Sept. 19, to play Kennedy High School. The Yellowjackets return to Van Why Field Friday, Sept. 27 to host Torrington High School under the lights at 7 p.m.
Kenneth Weiss (above) will play a solo recital performance in honor of Wanda Landowska, a harpischord virtuoso, who lived in Lakeville for many years.
Provided
Landowska fled Nazi Germany in 1941 with two of her students one of whom was Denise Restout, who later became her companion of many years, and a harpsichord in a box. They landed in New York. Landowski performed the Goldberg Variations of Johann Sebastian Bach at New York Town Hall to “Incredible success.” She then looked around for a place to live and found Lakeville where she resided until her death in 1959.
Kenneth Weiss made “a pilgrimage “to Lakeville in the 1980’s. “Madame Restout received us in the kitchen of the home she shared with Landowska. From the two Pleyel Harpsichords to Landowska concert gowns on display it felt as if Landowska had just stepped out.”
Madame Wanda Landowska, world famous harpsichordist and resident of Lakeville from 1941 until her death in 1959, will be honored in a concert presented by Crescendo and featuring a performance by Kenneth Weiss, renowned harpsichord soloist and professor at the Paris Conservatoire.Provided
Wanda Landowska was a child prodigy. Christine Gevert, Founding Artistic Director of Crescendo said that Landowska “went way beyond the harpsichord to other instruments.”
Landowska commissioned music from composers and wrote some of her own. She also had harpsichords built to order. She founded a music school in Paris where she “invited her students to come and stay on the property as if they were her own children.” She often became a lifelong mentor to students.
Landowska also authored many articles, some of which were translated from Polish and French and made into a book by her life partner Denise Restout who was left to take care of Landowska’s legacy when she died. Most of Landowska’s papers are in the Smithsonian, unfortunately still boxed up.
One reason for Landowska’s fame was that “she changed the course of music and how people perceived and enjoyed it.” She had a Bauhaus architect, Jean-Charles Moreux, design a concert hall, near Paris in the 1920’s, which was filled with light, in contrast to most darkened theaters. She had a low stage built so she could be close to the audience and would bring a carpet and lamp from home “to create ambience” said Gevert. Landowska had a “Holistic concept and made performances more attractive and accessible. She was one of the first performers to talk to the audience.”
The concert will be at the Lakeville Methodist Church at 6 p.m. on Sept. 14. It is presented with special support by Leszek Wojcik, famed Carnegie Hall recording engineer who lives in Lakeville. Wojcik “understands the importance of Landowska’s legacy,” said Gevert, and works with Crescendo to preserve it.
Tickets are available at www.crescendomusic.org or at the door, first come, first serve, forty-five minutes before the concert. Prices are forty dollars for general seats, ten dollars for youths or seventy-five for an up-close seat.
Support for the concert has also been provided to Crescendo by the Connecticut State Department of Economic and Community Development/Connecticut Office of the Arts (COA) from the Connecticut State Legislature, and NBT Bank.
