Chester Massachusetts 5.9 MWp under SREC 1 Policy working with Chester Municipal Light Department

[2015-2018] --Southwick Massachusetts-- Developed 3 Solar Energy Projects: 5 MWp, 2.9MWp, 2.9 MWp under SREC 2 Policy

CFS's first project was at Clean Harbors’ Bridgeport NJ facility which represents one face of solar PV’s future in NJ and hopefully beyond.  Where a notorious pre-Superfund disposal site once operated, solar PV will now offset most of the power needed for pump & treat remediation of contaminated ground water for the next several decades. Since the PV project commenced operation on April 14, 2011, it has outperformed production projections by over 15% with over 5500 megawatt-hours produced through November 2013. Clean Harbors (NYSE:CLH), North America’s leading provider of environmental, energy and industrial services, owns the site and financed the PV system.  The project was developed very close to navigable waterways and required sophisticated landfill knowledge plus a dozen environmental, waterfront development and other approvals.  The project is expected to achieve simple payback in 2015 through savings on site utility costs, federal ITC and depreciation benefits, and a long-term contracted SREC revenue stream.  The facility was designed and installed by groSolar and resulted from a prioritized nationwide screening review of numerous Company sites conducted by Carbon Finance Strategies LLC, Clean Harbors’ solar advisor.  It is a unique combination of corporate commitment, community support, behind-the-meter distributed generation, and creative engineering on a severely-constrained closed hazardous waste landfill.  It exemplifies renewable resources optimally matched with site needs and government policies.  Its 1.508 MWp PV system features a highly-efficient non-penetrating configuration on less than 7 acres of available space that left the landfill undisturbed.  To the applicants’ knowledge it is the largest PV facility successfully installed on a hazardous-waste site within the U.S.

Since 2010 CFS has successfully developed or co-developed over 26 megawatts (peak) of ground-mounted solar projects in Western Massachusetts and NJ.  We also have been involved in development of other PV and renewable-energy projects.

Our Massachusetts solar projects represent total capital investment exceeding $40,000,000. They generally are supported by long-term site control and power offtake agreements; favorable lease rates; beneficial positioning for SREC [Solar Renewable Energy Certificate] revenues or the equivalent; and co-development agreements with entities that collectively have developed hundreds of megawatts of operating solar facilities. Bankable EPC contractors with histories of utility-scale solar installations and strong vendor relationships have worked closely with us on these projects. Procurement of project components is strictly limited to Tier-One equipment from financially-sound providers with industry-lead performance warranties.

CFS began in 2008 as an expert resource center to prequalify solar and other renewable-energy projects to investor-grade standards, then help get them financed and built. We continue to optimize technical trade-offs through an integrated design / build process, and to optimize project yields through sophisticated project selection criteria combined with ongoing options for construction financing and equity takeout. 

Our advisory and development pipeline includes projects not referenced here.