Historic NH hotel wants to advance solar power

Bloomberg Businessweek

As facilities manager at the Star Island Family Retreat and Conference Center, it was Jack Farrell’s job to get the generator fixed. Today, his job also involves planning for its replacement as part of a project that involves one of the largest solar panel installations in northern New England.

“To me that’s the whole story. You can hear it constantly. You can smell it. And where this is an environmental sanctuary, we can do better than that,” said Farrell.

At 46 acres, Star Island is one of the larger islands in the Isles of Shoals, a small cluster straddling the New Hampshire-Maine line. Dominated by the Oceanic House, a grand hotel dating back to the 1870s, it has been owned since 1916 by the nonprofit Star Island Corporation, which offers religious retreats and educational conferences, as well as accommodations for families and individuals if available.