http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/articles/2018/02/solar-plus-storage-goes-community-scale-in-massachusetts.html
[links in on-line article]
Solar-plus-Storage Goes Community-Scale in Massachusetts
February 5, 2018
By Renewable Energy World Editors
A small Massachusetts town already well-known for its solar-plus-storage
microgrid, now will get a boost from the installation of a community
solar-plus-storage project.
Miami-based Origis Energy USA said it has secured a power purchase
agreement with the Sterling Municipal Light Department (SMLD) of
Sterling, Mass, for the project.
According to Origis Energy, the project, which represents the first
community solar-plus-storage project in Massachusetts, includes a 1-MWac
rooftop solar installation with a 1-MW/2-MWh energy storage system.
“We are approaching the Light Department’s self-imposed cap on
commercial solar capacity,” Matt Stelmach, chairman of the SMLD Board of
Commissioners, said in a statement, “but introduction of a grid-scale
battery system greatly reduces any concerns along those lines.”
SMLD previously installed an energy storage system with 2 MW of
lithium-ion batteries with four hours of continuous discharge. The
storage system and a 3-MW solar array can be islanded in the event of
emergency.
Construction on the new community solar plus storage facility will begin
this month, and Orgis said it expects to complete construction by the
end of March.
