One or both Harvard schools may soon get a 5kW solar photovoltaic array with educational monitors thanks to residents who signed up for the Clean Energy Choice (CEC) program.
The CEC program was set up by the Renewable Energy Trust, a division of the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, to support clean energy, and provided matching grants to towns for each household that signed up for the program through a certified provider. The trust discontinued the program as of June 30, issuing a statement that said in part, “As a result of the implementation of the Green Communities Act, passed by the Massachusetts legislature in 2008, the Green Communities Division at the Department of Energy Resources is now the centerpiece of the state’s investment in green energy in communities (www.mass.gov/energy/greencommunities). Therefore, the trust will be discontinuing the Clean Energy Choice match program. No additional grants will be awarded to match customer premium payments for usage recorded by meter readings after June 30, 2009. …A town will have until Nov. 30, 2009, to access the balance of all Clean Energy Choice funds that it has accrued through the June 30, 2009 program end date.”
Harvard earned $35,707 in its Clean Energy Choice fund from monthly reimbursements to the town from about four percent of households that chose to pay a small premium on their electric bills to support renewable energy.
When the Harvard Energy Advisory Committee (HEAC) learned the Clean Energy Choice Program was ending, it recommended using the CEC funds, along with matching funds from Commonwealth Solar, for solar photovoltaic panels at one of the schools. Harvard’s CEC fund can only be used for renewable energy or energy conservation projects, and Commonwealth Solar matching funds are only available for solar projects.
With CEC funds and the matching funds, approximately $55,000 will be available for solar panels, installation, and accompanying monitors for educational use. HEAC is investigating possible sites for the panels. Bromfield Facilities Manager Mark Force suggested installing panels on a south-facing area of Bromfield that gets particularly hot in warm weather. The panels would get the solar access they require, while shading the windows during the sunniest part of the year.
HEAC members will be helping the schools develop plans for the project, which must be in place by Nov. 30 to use the funds.
