Boston’s Largest Rooftop Solar Array Announced

Construction of a 240 kw solar installation at the Boston Water and Sewer Commission’s (BWSC) headquarters will begin this month, according to Rivermoor Energy, the solar energy development and investment firm that won the project just last week. The Newton, MA-based firm is taking advantage of the state’s new solar renewable energy credit (SREC) program to leverage funding for the $1.075 million project. Another local company–Zapotec, Inc., based out of Cambridge–designed the solar installation, which will provide the BWSC with about 7 percent of its annual power consumption (268,000 kWh/y).

When complete, the BWSC’s rooftop solar panel installation will be the largest of its kind in the city. It will be connected to the investor-owned utility NSTAR’s electrical grid. Chairman, President & CEO Tom May of NSTAR enthused:

It has been such a pleasure working with all of the collaborative partners on this project and we are so excited to see another clean, renewable energy project plugging into the NSTAR system…We applaud Mayor Menino’s work to make Boston a truly green city. The BWSC solar installation is the perfect example of how renewable energy projects can reduce greenhouse gas emissions and benefit the local economy at the same time.