Gehrlicher Solar America Corp. has broken ground on a 3 MW solar power plant in Scituate, Mass. The project is a collaboration between Gehrlicher, Main Street Power Co. Inc., MS Solar Solutions Corp., and project developers Syncarpha Capital and Brightfields Development LLC.
Sited on a capped landfill, the Scituate solar array comprises 10,560 solar panels and five inverters. Gehrlicher says the PV plant, together with a 1.5 MW wind turbine project commissioned in March 2012, will make Scituate the first town in the state to have 100% of its electricity provided by renewable energy.
Massachusetts is promoting the siting of solar power on capped landfills and other brownfields locations.
‘The town is very pleased to have this important project underway, and we look forward to the financial, educational and environmental benefits it brings to the residents of Scituate,’ says Shawn Harris, chairman of the Scituate Board of Selectmen.
‘We are excited to turn yet another landfill into a clean energy generation asset and productive financial holding for its owners and are pleased to have had the progressive support of the town and our business partners who made this project possible,’ says Lori Ribeiro, Gehrlicher Solar America's director of business development for New England. ‘Massachusetts has 328 capped landfills across the state … and Gehrlicher looks forward to working with our partners on future conversions.’
In early 2013, Gehrlicher Solar America opened a regional office in Boston to support its efforts in New England. The company says that to date, it has completed 16 MW of projects in Massachusetts and has an additional 62 MW under construction and development.
