On June 22, a ribbon-cutting ceremony was held on the site of the new and very large solar array and battery storage project sited on Acton Water District land on Lawsbrook Road in Acton. Now operational, the 4.69 MW solar + 4 MWh battery storage facility adds to the renewable energy available to the Acton Water District (AWD). Green Acton offers appreciation for, and congratulations on, this local, clean energy achievement!
The new system will generate 5,866 megawatt hours of renewable electricity annually — enough to power 800 average Massachusetts homes, and offset the carbon dioxide equivalent of 2,250 tons of burned coal. Roughly 5% of the renewably generated power from the project will be accessed by the AWD through a long-term PPA (Power Purchase Agreement); 95% will be used by the Town of Plymouth. The project received an award from the state’s Solar Massachusetts Renewable Targets (SMART) program.
Years in development, largely because of complex siting/permitting hurdles, the facility went online in mid-June. The project was developed by the district with multiple local and state partners, and built by EDF Renewables North America; it is owned and operated by Standard Solar. In attendance at the event were members of the AWD staff and Board of Commissioners, Acton Select Board members, Acton’s Town Manager, Acton’s state legislative delegation (or representatives), members of the Green Acton Board of Directors, representatives from the companies who executed the project, and others.
The AWD has another solar project queued up for a site on Knox Trail; that facility, expected to go live in 2023, will represent a massive shift in AWD energy use to locally generated “green” power. Green Acton supports and looks forward to the development of that facility, and other future renewable projects that help advance the critical transition to a clean, non-fossil-fuel energy future.
