A solar farm that went online in January is expected to offset 58 percent of the Guilderland School District’s annual energy consumption, reducing operating expenses by $4.5 million over the next 20 years. The array is also being used as a teaching tool.

The New Scotland Planning Board will hold a special meeting on Dec. 12, to determine the fate of the first proposed solar farm in town.

A Minnesota-based solar company has proposed installing a 7,000-panel solar farm in New Scotland.

Monolith Solar’s new headquarters is currently under construction in the Vista Technology Campus. When complete in October, the $4.9 million project will include a new 16,000-square-foot of office space and 10,000-square-foot research-and-development and manufacturing facility.

Almost a year after Cypress Creek Renewables applied to build a solar array, the Westerlo Planning Board approved the project.

Two new arrays will be part of a community solar project to be built in Westerlo.

Three applications for solar arrays in varying steps of the application process were reviewed at Westerlo’s planning board meeting Tuesday night, including one community solar project and two larger commercial projects.

Two companies have proposed establishing solar arrays in Westerlo; one off of Route 405 parallel to a homeowner concerned about glare, and another at the former resort Shepard Farm, on Route 32.

A 2-megawatt solar array proposed for Becker Road in western Guilderland would reduce the electricity bills of the Guilderland School District, the sole beneficiary — indirectly — of the array’s power output.

GUILDERLAND — Two projects that would be the first major solar-energy structures in Guilderland came before the planning board on July 12, and the board has received an application for a third.