On January 20, officials with Hancock, Massachusetts-based EOS Ventures announced the completion of a $4.5-million solar power package comprised of seven solar installations across the state – five in Berkshire County, one in Waltham and one in Seekonk.
Design-build EOS, a two-year-old renewable energy startup which also offers project financing in the form of power purchase agreements, or PPAs, has so far built more than 1.3 megawatts of solar power systems across the Northeast.
One of these systems, Fuss & O'Neill in Manchester, Connecticut, delivers 36 kilowatts of solar electricity via 119 305-watt modules. Installed through a cooperative venture with Wilton, Connecticut-based Alteris Renewables, the installation operates under an EOS PPA with additional funding from the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund (CCEF).
The Fuss & O’Neill solar power system provides 40,000 kilowatt-hours of clean energy, eliminating 28.7 metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) from production via fossil-fueled generation. These 28-plus tons are the equivalent of removing 5.5 cars from the road, or planting 737 trees.
The seven current projects, jointly producing about 880,000 kilowatt-hours of clean, solar electricity from 4,087 solar panels, will prevent nearly 4.3 million pounds of CO2 over the next 25 years – the expected lifespan of most solar panels, which is the same as removing 121 cars from the road or planting 16,205 trees and allowing them to grow for a decade.
The five Berkshire units have been installed at Bedard Brothers (Cheshire), Berkshire South Regional Community Center (Great Barrington), the Hancock Shaker Village (Hancock), Quality Printing (Pittsfield), and the town hall in West Stockbridge. The other two systems are located at Brandeis University (Waltham), and the Wheeler School athletic building (Seekonk).
The seven solar energy systems are a story of a project that almost didn’t make it to completion. In the summer of 2009, the formula for state funding for the Commonwealth Solar Rebate Program underwent an overhaul, leaving fewer dollars for the same number of projects.
Unwilling to give up, EOS and Alteris sought the help of 160-year-old regional banking firm Berkshire Bank, located in Pittsfield.
With the help of the bank and a bundling of projects that helped decrease overhead and expenses – as well as an agreement from each partner to reduce profit margins, and a fortuitous drop in solar panel prices – the deal was concluded by September, just before the deadline for the incentive (at its then-funded rate) was set to expire.
The systems are maintained by EOS, which is also the owner of record. The businesses buy the electricity generated by the systems at a rate lower than that offered by the regional utility, and one also guaranteed to remain stable over the lifetime of the 20-year agreement. All systems will be grid-tied.