Construction started Tuesday morning on what reportedly will become the state’s largest municipally owned solar array.
The one-megawatt solar array, which is under construction at South Portland’s capped landfill off Highland Avenue, is expected to be completed by September.
A statement issued by the city said Portland-based ReVision Energy will install 2,944 photovoltaic panels on the 34-acre landfill.
The array will be located behind the solid waste transfer station and the public services facility that is under construction at 929 Highland Ave
“The generation of renewable solar energy on the city’s capped landfill has long been identified as one of South Portland’s climate action goals,” Julie Rosenbach, South Portland’s sustainability director, said in a prepared statement. “Our collaboration with Portland and partnership with ReVision Energy on this project has enabled us to take a large step forward in the transition to clean, renewable energy.”
The solar array is expected to generate 1.2 million kilowatt-hours of energy per year, or roughly 12 percent of the electricity used by South Portland’s municipal and school buildings.
“We are very excited to be partnering with the city of South Portland and to be part of this timely discussion of solar power in Maine,” said project manager Josh Baston. “This will be the largest municipal project in Maine to date.”
The South Portland project was developed in conjunction with Portland officials, who negotiated a similar agreement for a solar array on Portland’s capped landfill off Ocean Avenue.
As a private, for-profit company, ReVision can build the arrays using federal tax credits that are not available to municipalities, which are nonprofits.
ReVision recently completed the first solar installation on a municipal landfill in Maine – an array in Belfast that went online in January.
Dennis Hoey can be contacted at 791-6365 or at:
dhoey@pressherald.com
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