The Chicopee River Solar project was constructed on a capped landfill owned by the Westmass Area Development Corporation, a regional, not-for-profit with the mission of promoting business growth in Western Massachusetts.
The landfill, located in the Chicopee River Business Park in the city of Springfield, is closed in by a highway and had little prospect of development potential. Moreover, Eversource, the utility serving the city, had no access to the site.
Citizens Energy worked with Chicopee Electric & Light Department and Eversource to sort through jurisdictional challenges and connect the array to the grid.
The 2.6-megawatt (MW) project generates enough electricity to power over 250 homes and displace over 2,500 tons of carbon emissions from the atmosphere annually.
| Owner and Operator | Citizens Enterprises Corp. |
|---|---|
| Developer | Citizens Enterprises Corp. |
| General Contractor | M.A. Mortenson Company, Minneapolis, Minn. |
| Electrical Contractor | Mass. Electric Company, Waltham, Mass. |
| Permitting Support | Tighe and Bond, Westfield, Mass. |
| Installed Capacity | 2.6 MW DC |
| Commissioned | January 2015 |
| Jobs Created | 55 during construction |
| Site Area | 13 acres |
| Energy Production | 3,400,000 kWh per year |
| CO2 Displacement | 3,000 tons per year |
| Mounting Type | Ground-Mount, ballasted |
| Racking Manufacturer | GameChange |
| Inverter Manufacturer | SMA |
| Inverter Type | Sunny Central 500CP-US |
| Inverter Quantity | 4 |
| Module Manufacturer | JA Solar |
| Module Wattage | 310/315 Watts |
| Module Quantity | 8,388 |
| Module Type | Poly-crystalline |
| Tilt | 20˚ |