Solar Project Puts Berkshire County on the Grid
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Western Massachusetts Electric Co. celebrated on Tuesday the completion of its 1.8 megawatt Silver Lake Solar Project at the William Stanley Business Park, just four months after it began.
The project, the largest solar energy facility in New England, contains roughly 6,500, low-profile solar panels that will provide enough energy to power an average of 300 homes. According to WMECo spokeswoman Sandra Ahearn, the project will be fully operational by next month.
"It's in the testing phase now," she said in a phone interview. "All three invertors successfully powered up today, so we'll be testing that for a couple of weeks."
Once testing is complete, the project will be connected to the grid almost immediately and while it is not a storage facility (the panels sleep when the sun goes down), it will be an impressive addition to the Berkshire grid.
Ahearn said the project, which received approval from the Department of Public Utilities in August 2009, cost roughly $9.5 million, about $2 million under budget from when WMECo first began to consider such an undertaking. She attributes this savings to the advancements of the solar energy market.
"As we got into the project the industry became more developed," she said. "Now it is certainly more competitive as well."
David Rooney, president of the Berkshire Economic Development Corp., said Berkshire County is in the perfect position to take advantage of advancements and interests in the energy business.
"This project is certainly part of a strategy," Rooney said. "It serves as a catalyst for continued development. Since this project was first announced there have been a number of other projects that have moved forward."
Rooney credits area representatives, the Department of Energy Resources, state officials and the community with the "relative smoothness" of the Silver Lake project.
"In this instance, the project went very smoothly," he said. "Obviously the DOER has made it very possible for something like this to go through. It was a good collaborative environment all around."
Rooney said he hopes for more such collaborations as energy suppliers look to Berkshire County as a viable, open location for setting up shop.
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"These projects are very consistent with the mindset of the Berkshires, with environmental stewardship," he said. "Adaptive reuse of brown fields and capped landfills is a way to take advantage of our strengths and turn them into positive energy. It’s a successful draw for employers. It raises awareness about us and what we have to offer."
According to Ahearn, the Silver Lake project is just the beginning for WMECo, which is currently negotiating a solar site in Springfield.
"We're hopeful that once we've proven that this project is successful that we’ll be able to build on other facilities," she said. "It makes use of a site that is pretty challenged from an environmental and an economic standpoint. This would provide a model for future development."
