SOLAR TO LINE MA HIGHWAYS

A bright future for roadside solar farms

Jay Fitzgerald, September 7, 2015 (Boston Globe)

“Five solar projects sprouting along the Massachusetts Turnpike and Route 3 are not the largest in the state, but they are among the most visible and striking examples of a solar industry that has grown more rapidly than most policy makers and energy specialists ever imagined…[The gleaming rows of solar panels] show how solar power has been integrated into daily life…The highway solar farms are part of an initiative launched two years ago by the state Department of Transportation that will build at least 10 solar projects on unused department property, eight of them along the Mass Pike…[Ameresco Inc., a publicly traded energy management and procurement company, is developing] the solar projects under a contract that pays the DOT nearly $100,000 a year in land leases and allows it to buy electricity at reduced rates from Ameresco. The lower power costs could save the state $15 million over 20 years…Ameresco, which is investing at least $12 million in the solar project, is allowed to sell excess power to electric utilities at a profit…” click here for more

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