A large, seven-megawatt solar project that was approved about two years ago at the former Windmill Hill golf course on Schoolhouse Road has not seen much movement since that approval process happened — until now.

At the time of its local approval, the project was being managed by Colorado-based Turning Point Energy, who for the past couple of years was awaiting more permits from RIDEM and an interconnection agreement from Rhode Island Energy (formerly National Grid) to plug the project into the power grid.

According to reports gathered by the Times-Gazette, the project has since been turned over to a new company, Nexamp, based out of Boston. A large volume of trees (see photos) were observed to have been cut down recently, prompting questions as to whether the project was gearing up for installation of the panels.

Reached on Tuesday morning, representatives from Nexamp stated that the company had all the necessary permits in hand to continue forward with the project, and that work on the project has resumed.

“Construction just started in the past couple of weeks,” said Jennifer DeLaney, VP of Channel Operations for Nexamp. “We’ll continue to work (as much as we can) through winter, and our goal is to be complete by the fall of 2023. It takes some time to test the system, and so we intend to be fully operational by end of year.”

When the project was being deliberate at the local level, it was stated that the solar array would power up to 2,000 homes, and create $30,000 in local tax revenue for Warren. Throughout that process, concessions were made on constructing natural buffers to shield abutters from viewing the array.