AMSOLAR in Massachusetts: Partnership with MASS MoCA

(North Adams Transcript, April 13, 2010) - The Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art’s rooftops will become home to a second photovoltaic system this year.

The planned 199.52-kilowatt solar array, slated for installation on the roof of Building 6 this summer, will be partially financed by $162,250 in federal stimulus funds awarded as part of the state’s Commonwealth Solar Stimulus rebate program late Friday afternoon.

The system will be installed by solar developer AMSOLAR Corp. of San Diego, which will finance the remaining 80 percent of the roughly $1 million project.

"This is the first half of a proposed 400-kilowatt photovoltaic system we are hoping to install," Blair Benjamin, Mass MoCA’s director of real estate and community development, said Monday. "We’re hoping on landing another 200-kilowatt array through other financing sources. On Friday, we submitted an application for the rebate program’s second round of funding, this time working with Berkshire Photovoltaic."

Unlike the museum’s 51-kilowatt solar array on the roof of Building 5, which was supported by a grant from the Massachusetts Renewable Energy Trust, the new system will not be owned by the museum, he said.

"The funds flow through the solar developer, AMSOLAR Corp., and we are the host site," Benjamin said. "In exchange, we will be the recipient of some cheap electricity."

The museum will enter a 20-year power purchasing contract with AM Solar, purchasing the power produced by the solar array at a low rate.

"It’s more attractive than purchasing electricity from the grid," Benjamin said.

AMSOLAR will benefit from additional federal and state tax credits and other incentive programs aimed at encouraging the development of renewable energy resources.

"This type of agreement is becoming pretty standard and attractive for nonprofits like Mass MoCA, which can’t take advantage of the federal tax incentives," he said. "It allows us to invest in solar facilities, and it makes it more attractive to the developers as well. There’s no capital expense to the museum for the installation."

The solar array was announced late Friday afternoon by state Environmental Affairs Secretary Ian Bowles as one of 56 projects that will share in a total of $4 million in federal stimulus funding to help install 4-megawatts of solar power at sites throughout the state. Under the Commonwealth Solar Stimulus program, the 56 awards will go to a variety of projects generating from 5 kilowatts to 200 kilowatts of power.

"Commonwealth Solar has been the catalyst for significant growth in the Massachusetts solar power industry over the last two years," Gov. Deval Patrick said in a news release. "With this next generation of rebates, we are putting clean solar power within the reach of more schools, farms and other small businesses across the state."

Solar photovoltaic projects assisted by Commonwealth Solar rebates, as well as solar installations supported by federal stimulus funds on water treatment facilities and other public buildings, will bring the state to more than 60-megawatts of solar power by the end of 2010, up from 3.5-megawatts when Patrick took office.

"Massachusetts is in the midst of a solar revolution. By the end of this year, the Commonwealth will see a nearly 20-fold increase in solar installations over what we had when Governor Patrick took office," Bowles said in a news release. "I congratulate these 56 new projects for becoming part of the Massachusetts solar success story."

Last month, the museum received $800,000 in federal stimulus funds to install a biomass boiler and launch an energy-efficiency upgrade this summer. The boiler, which will use renewable wood-pellet fuel, is expected to decrease the museum’s reliance on natural gas by 75 percent. It will be complemented by high volume/low speed fans for greater air distribution and by advanced lighting controls.

Benjamin said the museum will continue to aggressively pursue the additional 200-kilowatt array, which is the remaining portion of it’s third phase of energy-efficiency plans. The first two phases included several energy upgrades in 2008, including the 51-kilowatt solar array, while the second phase includes the installation of the biomass boiler.

The fourth phase of the museum’s energy-efficiency plans include a wind power collaboration.