Allco Renewable Energy has announced that is about to sign a letter of intent with the Town of Coventry, Rhode Island to build a $45 million solar energy farm on the former Picillo pig farm.

According to Bill Fischer, spokesman for Allco, the Coventry Solar Farm will consist of hundreds of 3-foot by 5-foot solar panels that will fill around 90 per cent of the 100 acre site. The solar farm will have a capacity of 8 MW of electricity which would be enough to power around 7,200 homes each year.

This solar energy project is still in the infancy stage with planning approval not yet sought. If approval was attained quickly, construction could begin in 2009 with estimates putting total construction time at 4 years. This gives the project a completion date somewhere in 2013. Permits will be required from both the town and the state Department of Environmental Management.

Allco also has plans for the site to act as a testing facility to check the viability of constructing a wind power farm in the area. They plan to erect a meteorological tower that will give them the data needed to determine whether proceeding with adding wind turbines will be an economical possibility.