Solar Money
12 Mar 2010
The great state of Massachusetts announced a couple weeks ago that our town won a $150k grant from the state via the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) program from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). The Town Committee that I serve on, CSEC, is putting in another $100k, and our municipal utility, CMLP, is on the hook for $50k. The RFP for a 44kW system is out and it looks like a lot of bids will be submitted. The installation should occur this summer on Willard Elementary School, which is a pretty green school.
Details on the economics, etc., will follow. As far as the Town is concerned, this is largely a windfall- the school system will get free electricity from the PV system, the CSEC money is from the Sawyer Funds dedicated to sustainable energy, and CMLP should recoup their investment through lower peak demand from the grid in the summer.
