The Peabody Municipal Light Plant and Marblehead Municipal Light Department will now receive energy from the largest municipality-owned solar field in the state.
The Peabody and Marblehead utilities are joining four other local light agencies as co-owners of the new 35-acre solar farm operated by the Massachusetts Municipal Wholesale Electric Company, or MMWEC in Ludlow. The other four participating municipalities are Boylston, Ipswich, Mansfield, and Wakefield.
The project will generate more than 13,800-megawatt hours of electricity annually which, based on average emission levels, will negate the municipalities’ need to produce about 13 million pounds of CO2 per year.
At 29 percent, the Peabody Municipal Light Plant will receive the largest amount of solar energy from the farm of those participating. Plant manager Joe Anastasi said that allocation is because, at 26,000, Peabody’s utility serves the most customers.
“We have been on this path for decades — since the eighties really. It’s been a slow path and the pace has hastened in the last couple of years,” Anastasi said. “When a project like this comes around where we can purchase affordable renewable energy, we’re going to leap at it.”
Following the utility’s decision to raise residential rates for the first time in 12 years by 9 percent in July, Anastasi said the solar project’s launch will not impact Peabody customers’ bills.
“We are keeping Peabody residents in mind when we do this,” Anastasi said. “The farm isn’t really in our backyard because it’s out in Ludlow, but we own it.”
Marblehead Municipal Light Department manager Joe Kowalik said the utility will receive 10.87 percent of the energy produced by the solar field. Kowalik said the department began seeking out alternatives to fossil fuels over a decade ago, and that today, it receives renewable energy from farms in Canada, New York, New Hampshire, and Vermont.
“We’re looking at building a diverse portfolio of renewable energy,” Kowalik said. “Our first project with MMWEC was 12 years ago. This is just the latest one.”
The Ludlow solar field features panels that produce energy from direct sunlight and light reflected onto the back of the panels, according to MMWEC. The technology will allow for year-round energy production, including during the winter when snow cover on the ground reflects light onto the back of the panels.
“Consistent with the Commonwealth’s decarbonization roadmap, the solar project allows the participating municipal light departments to increase the non-carbon generation mix in their power portfolios while helping them to maintain stable rates for their customers,” MMWEC CEO Ronald DeCurzio said in a statement.
