National Development, Altus Power America and Borrego Solar Systems announce the completion of a 3.9 megawatt (MW) roof-top solar installation, located on a 430,000 -square-foot manufacturing and distribution center straddling the Boston/Dedham line.
The solar project is the largest operational roof-top installation in Massachusetts and is expected to generate 4.8 million kilowatt hours (kWh) of energy annually. Boston Business Park is owned by National Development and is home to large-scale warehousing and distribution companies such as HD Supply, Max Finkelstein Inc. and Gentle Giant.
“We were thrilled to work with Altus Power and Borrego Solar on such a landmark installation—one of the largest solar installations in New England—which not only adds a great deal to the property but, more importantly, fulfills a major goal of National Development to make our buildings as sustainable as they can be while being innovative in the process,” said Andrew Gallinaro, senior vice president of asset management at National Development.
Altus Power owns the solar installation and will sell the energy produced to the UMass Boston through a Net Metering Credit Purchase Agreement. Virtual net metering is a utility billing mechanism that enables the offtaker to receive energy credits on its utility bill from a remotely-located installation. Altus Power has funded, owns, and operates more than 80MW of solar nationally, with 32MW completed or in development in the Commonwealth.
“Powering up this solar system and starting to deliver clean energy savings to UMass Boston marks an important milestone for Altus Power and our development, construction and real estate partners,” said Gregg Felton, managing partner of Altus Power America. “We are very pleased to have worked closely with Borrego Solar, National Development, UMass Boston, the City of Boston and Town of Dedham to bring this project to its successful completion and we look forward to continuing to build more clean energy in Massachusetts for the benefit of our commercial and public customers.”
In Massachusetts, this amount of solar power is enough to offset approximately 128 million pounds of carbon dioxide equivalents over the next 25 years,1 the equivalent of eliminating nearly 140 million vehicle miles or taking nearly 820 cars permanently off the road.
Borrego Solar—the leading developer, designer, installer and O&M provider of solar and energy storage systems in Massachusetts—built and developed the array. The company has installed more than 125 MW of solar in the Commonwealth.
“This project demonstrates the remarkable evolution of Massachusetts’ solar market. When we began developing and installing solar here in 2007 there were only 3MW of operational solar plants and virtual net metering had just been enacted,” said Jared Connell, Massachusetts director of project development for Borrego Solar. “We’re now able to cost-effectively construct massive roof-top projects that provide significant economic and environmental benefits for all stakeholders.”
UMass Boston was advised by Competitive Energy Services (CES). “CES has assisted UMass Boston with energy related issues since 2011. The five UMass System campuses combined are the largest offtakers of virtual net metering credits in the Commonwealth and the 3.9MW solar array at the Boston Business Park will be one of the final PV systems installed in their portfolio, bringing their total offtake to about 50MW. It has been great to work with Altus Power and Borrego Solar on this project on behalf of UMass. The solar array will provide important financial savings to the University and UMass is thrilled to help yet another solar project reach commercial operations in Massachusetts,” said Zac Bloom, director of sustainability for Competitive Energy Services.