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LEBANON, N.H. (AP) — A New Hampshire planning board has approved a proposal allowing Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center to build a solar array southeast of its campus parking lots.
The Valley News reports (http://bit.ly/1tq9bfN ) the Lebanon planning board's decision Monday includes conditions that the hospital receive state wetlands and terrain approval before construction begins on the 1.25-megawatt solar array.
The hospital must also plant 20 additional trees to provide shade to cars and improve parking lot appearances.
A consulting firm says that four arrays consisting of about 3,400 panels will occupy 5.5 acres of land adjacent to parking lots.
The panels could produce as much as 1.5 million kilowatt-hours annually, about 2.3 percent of the hospital's electricity demands. Officials expect to save $477,000 on electricity costs over the 20-year life expectancy of the array.
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Information from: Lebanon Valley News, http://www.vnews.com
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