Marblehead, Peabody To Join Regional Solar Project

MARBLEHEAD, MA —Marblehead and Peabody are two of six communities participating in a $14.5 million Massachusetts Municipal Wholesale Electric Company solar project.

The project allows for member municipal utilities that may not have ideal locations for projects within their own communities to add more solar to their power portfolios.

The 7-megawatt capacity project will be constructed in Ludlow and will also include Boylston, Ipswich, Mansfield and Wakefield.

Construction is scheduled to start this summer. The project is expected to come online by late 2021.

The wholesale electric company will use a local financial institution to issue tax-exampt revenue bonds to finance the project.

The project was developed in alignment with the state’s decarbonization goals.

"The site selected on MMWEC's campus represents an ideal location for this type of project," electric company CEI Ronald DeCurzio said. "We are happy to be able to provide this opportunity to our members looking to increase their ownership of carbon-free and renewable generation.

"This is yet another example of the ways MMWEC and its members use their joint action agency capabilities of vertical integration and project ownership to lead the way in incorporating new carbon-free resources, dating back to the 1980s."

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(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)