Polluted brownfield turned into photovoltaic field
Date: 12/27/2011
Dec. 26, 2011By G. Michael Dobbs
Managing Editor
SPRINGFIELD — Where there was once a polluted brownfield area, there is now a state of the art photovoltaic field generating both electricity and tax revenue.
City officials joined Western Massachusetts Electric Company (WMECo) President Peter Clarke in introducing the Indian Orchard Solar Facility on part of the former Chapman Valve site on Goodwin Street.
Clarke said the solar field “makes large scale solar energy a reality in Massachusetts.”
This is the second solar facility for the company, with its first located in Pittsfield. Clarke said this solar field is larger than the one in Pittsfield and is the largest solar facility in New England.
Constructed at a cost of $12 million, the Indian Orchard facility is comprised of 8,200 solar panels, which generate up to 2.3 megawatts of electricity — enough to power about 500 homes, Clarke explained.
He praised the workmanship of IBEW #7 in the construction of the site and thanked the neighboring residents for accepting the facility.
The city will receive about $400,000 in property tax revenue annually from the solar field.
Barbara Kates-Garnick, the under-secretary of Massachusetts Energy and Environmental Affairs, called the facility a “solar orchard.”
She noted, “The Green Community Act has made projects like this possible.”
Under the Green Communities Act, utilities such as WMECo can own up to 50 megawatts of solar generation. WMECo owns 4.1 megawatts. There are currently 67 megawatts of power in the Commonwealth.
Mayor Domenic Sarno remarked, “How ironic it is we’re here on a cloudy day.”
Clarke, who said the original date for the press event had been in October after it had come on-line, was delayed due to the snowstorm on Oct. 29.
“We were hoping for sunshine today,” Clarke said.
