The installation of solar panels at the city's landfill will save up to $70,000 in electricity costs in the first year alone, Mayor Dan Drew announced Friday, in an agreement with Greenskies Renewable Energy.

Up to 3 megawatts of renewable photovoltaic generation capacity will be built by Greenskies with no cost to the city. The first construction will be at the capped landfill next to the dump and will cover 5 acres of land. It will provide power to the Remington Rand building and other city electrical accounts at 6 cents per killowatt hour, a significant savings over the current 15-cent rate.

Based on output data from Greenskies, the mayor said in a press release, the city stands to save $70,000 in the first year, and benefit from a number of construction job openings associated with the project. Benefits are expected to increase in the years to come.

"These long-term agreements will save city taxpayers millions of dollars over the 20-year term, produce needed tax revenue every year and create a significant number of construction jobs," Drew explained.

Recent state legislation allows for increased distributed generation through virtual net metering, in which extra generation from one city site can be credited to other accounts.