Town hopes it won't get burned

Town hopes it won't get burned Wants out of solar contract with bankrupt company

Damien Fisher News Staff Writer WINCHENDON - The town is looking at getting out of its 20-year contract with bankrupt solar firm SunEdison. Town Manager Keith Hickey reported to selectmen this week that he’s begun working on getting the town divorced from SunEdison’s stalled out deal to build a solar energy park on town land. He is seeking legal advice from the town attorney who helped with the deal between Winchendon and SunEdison to make sure he can get free from the contract. “I believe SunEdison has not complied with the terms of the contract and the town can walk away but I would like the attorney to review the agreement and recommend an alternative path,” he told selectmen. Part of the alternative plan is having Winchendon purchase net metering credits, which would allow the town to build a solar facility without worry about the state cap on alternative energy, known as the net metering cap. Last month, SunEdison filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection with close to $12 billion in debt. The troubled solar energy company is currently being investigated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for allegedly filing incorrect financial statements last year. Winchendon’s SunEdison solar array has already been delayed for the past five years. The original deal was first struck between Winchendon and Axio. SunEdison bought out Axio six months after the original deal was signed, but the project never progressed much beyond initial planning and site work. The new deal, signed last year, was meant to clear the way for the project to begin. SunEdison is supposed to be building the project on about 12 to 18 acres of the town’s capped landfill. The 20-year deal with Winchendon, renegotiated last year, is supposed to net the town about $12 million in savings. Trouble has been mounting for SunEdison for months, when the impact of the debt is accrued in purchasing other solar companies started to be felt. In April, TerraForm Global, a subsidiary company of SunEdison, filed a lawsuit against its parent company in Delaware, accusing SunEdison of using $231 million to prop up its cash position rather than on solar projects in India for TerraForm, according to media reports.