Concord Planning Board approves expanded solar array and battery storage at Walden Street landfill

CONCORD — May 26, 2026 — Concord Planning Board unanimously approves 4.8-megawatt solar expansion and battery storage at the former Walden Street landfill. The board voted without dissent May 26 to approve a site plan for Kearsarge Walden St LLC to demolish and replace the existing 2013 solar array at 755 Walden Street and install a 20-megawatt-hour battery storage system in four 20-foot containers on a concrete pad, with the project area totaling just under 12 acres. A Kearsarge principal explained that Concord Municipal Light Plant's distribution circuit in the area is physically capped at approximately 2 megawatts of solar intake, and that batteries are required to allow the expanded array to store midday generation and discharge it during evening peak load. The board also scheduled a special 8 a.m. Zoom session for June 9 to finalize its recommendation letter to the Zoning Board of Appeals on a proposed gas station renovation at 166 Commonwealth Avenue, where Concord Country Store LLC needs the letter in hand before the ZBA's June 11 hearing. New Select Board liaison Dean Banfield introduced himself at the meeting, calling the Walden Street approval something he had "been advocating for a long time."