Massachusetts is definitely getting into the game of ramping up the use of solar energy. Governor Patrick took a bold step towards increasing installed solar power capacity in the Commonwealth by announcing the first round of proposed projects for the Solar Stimulus Program on June 30, 2009. The initial tender, known as a Request for Proposal (RFP), identified approximately 5.34MW of solar power to be installed at various publicly owned facilities. Logan International Airport is poised to be one of the primary benefactors of the Solar Stimulus Project, as the four passenger terminals are slated to receive 2.75MW of solar energy. This would place Logan ahead of Denver International, which currently boasts the country’s largest solar generation site at an airport, consisting of a 2 MW ground-mounted solar array approximately 7 miles away from the terminal. Other state facilities identified in the RFP include four sites of the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority, the Somerville Housing Authority, and a new residence hall at Westfield State College.
Yet how does the Patrick Administration plan to pay for this build out of solar energy? The state received approximately $54.9 million in federal funding as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) in 2009. Of this, the state government slated approximately $20 million to invest in the installation of solar PV systems, known as the Massachusetts Solar Stimulus plan. The state has an aggressive plan to grow installed solar energy capacity from today’s 11 MW to 250 MW of solar power by 2017. This current round of financing of $20 million is intended to install a total of 16 MW of solar energy across the Commonwealth. More RFPs for solar energy projects are expected to be released by the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources (DOER) over the next few weeks and months and it will be interesting to see what additional public facilities are targeted as solar generation sites.
The Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs argues that this Solar Stimulus Program will have a net positive benefit on Massachusetts electricity consumers. Although proposed projects are intended to provide on-site power, any excess clean power resulting from solar PV installations will be fed back into the grid. This process, known as net metering, is made possible by the progressive policy measure passed by the Massachusetts legislature in 2008 known as the Green Communities Act. In addition to having more clean and renewable power feeding into the grid for all to consume, DOER Commissioner Phil Guidice believes the public benefits will be enormous:
Besides deploying hundreds of workers and growing the bottom lines of clean energy
companies, the state and municipal facilities that host the projects will see reductions in their long-term operating costs – freeing them from the potential price volatility associated with fossil fuel-generated electricity.
While it is clear that such projects will lead to green job creation – something that is much needed in our current economic recession – it is also important to realize that investment by the federal government in the Commonwealth’s clean power portfolio has the potential to lower electricity costs for all consumers of power. Price reduction in electricity can increase disposable income for residential consumers and allow for more cost-effective business operations of industrial customers.
Possibly even more exciting than saving on one’s electricity bill is the solar power array atop Logan International Airport’s four passenger terminals. Such a project, if it reaches fruition, will bring national attention to Logan’s leadership in clean power generation and will complement the solar panels already planned for the top of Terminal B’s parking garage. Massachusetts’s Solar Stimulus Program was smart to target Logan in the initial RFP, as the international nature of the airport is bound to attract intrigue to solar energy technologies from both travelers and infrastructure planners at home and abroad.
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