Alpha Grainger Manufacturing has completed the rooftop installation of a 425 kW photovoltaic installation at the company's 90,000-sq.-ft. manufacturing facility in Franklin, Mass. The solar power system is expected to generate 481,525 kWh per year, saving the company more than $72,000 annually on its energy bills.
Contributing to Governor Deval Patrick's goal of 250 megawatts of solar power by 2017, the project was a collaborative effort among Broadway Electrical, Alpha Grainger Manufacturing, the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC), the Department of Energy Resources (DOER), Satcon and PanelClaw.
Broadway Electrical selected Satcon's Solstice system, a complete power harvesting and management solution for the project. The installation consists of 1,575 Suntech 270-W panels via a PanelClaw Mounting System and four Satcon Solstice 100-kW solutions, integrated with sixteen Solstice SSB combiner boxes.
"Thanks to projects like this, we will have installed or are under contract over 60 megawatts by the end of this year - a nearly 20-fold increase over the 3.5 MW installed statewide when the Governor took office, and an accomplishment that has helped to nearly triple employment in the solar sector since 2007," said Ian Bowles, Mass. Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary.
Alpha Grainger received a $561,061 Commonwealth Solar rebate from MassCEC to help offset the costs of installing the solar panels. The Commonwealth Solar Rebate Program was launched by Governor Patrick in January 2008 to drive solar installations.
