Massachusetts is not known for its sunny climate and can’t compete with California where huge solar-power farms in the desert can produce hundreds of megawatts of electricity. Nevertheless, the state is enthusiastically embracing solar energy wherever it can.
Massachusetts’ Green Communities act of 2007 set the goal of installing 250 megawatts of solar power capacity in the state by 2017. Massachusetts blew by that mark in 2013 and has since reset the goal to 1,600 megawatts by 2020. With a combination of generous government subsidies and plunging prices for solar technology, the state has already reached 700 megawatts of installed solar capacity.
National Grid announced in December that it will be installing an additional 16 megawatts of solar capacity at 19 sites across the state by the middle of this year. The project will cost the utility about $75 million and will include about 50,000 solar panels. National Grid also intends to eventually begin experimenting with solar storage technologies at some of these sites.
With the completion of this project, National Grid will own 24 facilities with a combined capacity of 21 megawatts. Other Massachusetts utilities have also installed solar energy systems. The Green Communities Act enables utilities to own up to 50 megawatts of solar generation facilities. The numbers may not compare favorably with the massive solar facilities in the sunny southwestern parts of the country, but Massachusetts utilities like National Grid are determined to help drive the marketplace for solar power in the Northeast and participate in the transition to renewable energy.
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National Grid set to build 19 solar power facilities in Mass
Photo, posted September 11, 2012, courtesy of Brookhaven National Laboratory via Flickr.
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Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.