Local Team Set to Begin Construction on Boston's Largest Rooftop Solar Installation

Feb. 8, 2010
Rivermoor Energy, Zapotec Energy, and Fischbach & Moore connect with NSTAR to deliver solar system to Boston Water and Sewer Commission

Newton, Mass.-based Rivermoor Energy recently announced construction will begin this month on the largest solar project in Boston. Developed and designed by the consortium of Rivermoor,Fischbach & Moore Electrical Group, Boston, and Zapotec Energy, Inc., Cambridge, Mass., the 240kW project at Boston Water and Sewer Commission (BWSC) headquarters will connect to the NSTAR grid.

Awarded on January 29, the complex project involves installing a 240kW solar photovoltaic (PV) system on the BWSC rooftop. Leveraging Massachusetts' Solar Renewable Energy Credits, construction and installation of the $1-million project will take approximately three months and will create over 15 clean energy jobs for Massachusetts. When complete, the new solar energy system should produce 268,000 kilowatt hours of power annually, about 7% of the commission's current power usage.

"We are proud to bring together a best-in-class financial and utility-scale solution to the BWSC that maximizes government incentives and solar renewable energy credits," says John Tourtelotte, managing director of Rivermoor Energy, which established the consortium of firms that ultimately won the city contract. "Boston is taking a leadership role in the adoption of renewable energy technologies. We are very pleased to help advance jobs and green energy in Massachusetts."

"We look forward to delivering this differentiated, cost-effective and energy-efficient solar array for the BW SC and we congratulate NSTAR and its technical staff for its assistance in planning the interconnection to the electrical grid, " says Paul Lyons, president of Zapotec Energy, Inc., which designed the solar energy system.

"It has been such a pleasure working with all of the collaborative partners on this project, and we are so excited to see another clean, renewable energy project plugging into the NSTAR system, " says Tom May, chairman, president and CEO of NSTAR, the largest Massachusetts-based, investor-owned electric utility. "We applaud Mayor Menino's work to make Boston a truly green city. The BWSC solar installation is the perfect example of how renewable energy projects can reduce greenhouse gas emissions and benefit the local economy at the same time. ".

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