About 20 people showed up to watch workers carry panels up a ladder to the roof of the Charlotte Fire and Rescue building on Wednesday morning, June 24.
They hadn’t so much come to revel in the efforts of Eric Hartman, owner of Harvestar Sustainable Energy Solutions, and his employees as they carried 178 solar panels, that each weighed about 55 pounds, up a series of ladders to install on top of the building, as much as they had come to celebrate the beginning of the end of a long effort, with many bureaucratic hoops to jump through, to get a solar project planned to greatly reduce the town’s energy bills and move Charlotte closer to its energy sustainability goals.
As 2025 was waning, the selectboard hustled the solar project along as much as possible in order to get a start on the project by Dec. 31 so the town would qualify for federal incentive funds to help pay for the project. By the end of the year, the town had crossed that hurdle by hiring a contractor and paying for at least 5 percent of the solar panels, having them delivered and storing them until the weather was good enough for installing on the roof.
The groups that came out to mark the occasion included members of the energy & climate action committee (current and past), new town administrator Bryce Bierman and selectboard members JD Herlihy and Lee Krohn and interested residents.
Also in attendance were Ryan Scagnelli of Scagnelli & Sons Heat Pump, whose company is installing the heat pumps for the project, and Tim Post of Green Edge Energy Solutions who has worked as a consultant on the project.
Besides everyone’s delight that the project had reached this milestone in time for the financial benefits, there was also a general sense of happiness that the weather wasn’t rainy like it had been the week before. And surely there would have been a great sense of gratification, at least on the part of Hartman and his crew, that it wasn’t as hot as it was this week.
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If you enjoy The Charlotte News, please consider making a donation. Your gift will help us produce more stories like this. The majority of our budget comes from charitable contributions. Your gift helps sustain The Charlotte News, keeping it a free service for everyone in town. Thank you.
Andrew Zehner, Board Chair
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