{"id":157445,"date":"2023-09-28T15:14:28","date_gmt":"2023-09-28T19:14:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/?p=157445"},"modified":"2023-10-16T10:33:46","modified_gmt":"2023-10-16T14:33:46","slug":"off-campus-construction-update-sept-29-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/2023\/09\/28\/off-campus-construction-update-sept-29-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"(Off-)Campus Construction Update: Sept. 28, 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In February, we told you about a solar array under construction<\/a> in the Maine town of Skowhegan that was designed to supply the electrical grid with an amount of juice equal to most of what the Bates campus consumes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the week of Sept. 11, that juice started to flow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a years-long process of planning and development, with students playing a decisive role, Bates partnered with REC Solar<\/a>, a nationwide solar provider, and project contractor ReVision Energy<\/a>, a South Portland-based leader in Maine\u2019s solar-electric industry, to create the array on 20-plus acres of pasture land. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After about a year of construction, the installation of the array\u2019s nearly 18,500 photovoltaic panels and related infrastructure was completed in August.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"This
This aerial photo shows the completed photovoltaic array on more than 20 acres of countryside in the town of Skowhegan. Maine, on Sept. 21, 2023.(ReVision Energy photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

And last week the figurative switch was thrown connecting the facility to the grid, adding 7.131 megawatts of direct current to the region\u2019s capacity. (The direct current is converted to alternating current for grid distribution to electrical customers.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The array represents a win-win-win for the college, explains Tom Twist, Bates\u2019 sustainability manager. One benefit is financial: a portion of the income from Maine solar credits will go to Bates. (In Maine, as in many states, eligible solar projects receive credits for electricity they generate.) These credits come at a good time, as the college has experienced the same spike in energy costs that people have seen at home in heating and electrical costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cFor years, Bates has sought creative yet practical ways to make a net positive impact on the environment \u2014 while also saving money \u2014 and we\u2019re honored to be a part of their inspiring sustainability journey.”<\/p>\nLawrence Denney, REC Solar CEO<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Switching perspectives from greenbacks to green \u2014 as in sustainable \u2014 the array is key to the course charted in the \u201csustainability roadmap\u201d that the college developed and in 2022 formally adopted<\/a>. One milestone on the map is the sourcing of the college\u2019s entire electricity supply locally and renewably by 2045. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis one project puts us way ahead of schedule to meet that 100 percent goal,\u201d says Twist. \u201cIt leaves us only 25 percent of our power to make up\u201d through smaller projects such as rooftop solar or additional ground-level arrays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to project contractor ReVision Energy, Bates partnered with REC Solar, a provider of commercial solar solutions, to furnish services including ownership, operation, and maintenance. \u201cFor years, Bates has sought creative yet practical ways to make a net positive impact on the environment \u2014 while also saving money \u2014 and we\u2019re honored to be a part of their inspiring sustainability journey,\u201d says REC Solar CEO Lawrence Denney.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, as Twist says, Bates was able to align the solar project with its core mission: education. \u201cThere was a really strong theme of student involvement running all through this project.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Bates
Bates sustainability manager Tom Twist, shown during a Committee on Environmental Responsibility meeting in 2019, says the solar array project \u201cputs us way ahead of schedule” in terms of meeting the goal to source all electricity locally and renewably by 2045. (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

For example, once Bates had received responses to a formal request for proposals to develop the facility, \u201cstudents were integral to the vetting of the different proposals.\u201d They rendered varying expressions of data into uniform terms \u201cso that we could compare apples to apples,\u201d Twist explains. \u201cThen they helped us crunch the numbers \u2014 what would make the most sense? Do we purchase a solar array outright or do we lease it? They had to understand federal policy, how would Bates get the best return, that sort of thing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“There were Bates students and alums up and down the chain working on this.\u201d<\/p>\nTom Twist, Bates sustainability manager<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Twist says that it was a capstone community-engaged research project undertaken in 2016 by three environmental-studies majors that inspired the new solar facility. The three \u2014 Jack Martell and Mac McReynolds, both Class of 2017, and Matt Marcus \u201918 \u2014 even recommended that Bates use the power-purchase agreement structure<\/a> now in force with the Skowhegan array. <\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Jack Martell ’17, now at the Boston-based solar energy company Nexamp, was among the Bates students and alumni who contributed to the successful creation of the college’s solar array in Skowhegan. (LinkedIn)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cBates alums worked on the project, as well, through both ReVision and our consultant company, Freedom Energy,\u201d he adds. (In fact, Martell was one of those alums. Now at the Boston-based solar energy company Nexamp, he was involved through Freedom Energy.) \u201cThat\u2019s kind of nice, too. There were Bates students and alums up and down the chain working on this.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In terms of both electrical output and the number of photovoltaic panels involved, the Skowhegan array is ReVision\u2019s largest completed project to date. In development since 2018, that project is also the largest outcome thus far of a relationship with Bates that goes back even further.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cWhen leading institutions like Bates commit to clean energy, they show the wider community what\u2019s possible.”<\/p>\nDan Weeks, ReVision vice president for business development<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Dan Weeks, ReVision\u2019s vice president of business development, says that working with the college has been \u201ca very positive experience\u201d for the employee-owned firm. This makes sense, as both institutions are committed to social and environmental justice. (ReVision is a B Corp \u2014 a Certified Benefit Corporation \u2014 meaning one whose legally defined goals, in addition to turning a profit, include societal and environmental betterment.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re working to accelerate the clean-energy transition and prevent the worst effects of climate change,\u201d says Weeks. \u201cSolar farms like this one are critical to achieving our mission of a just and equitable electric future \u2014 not just because of the direct reduction in carbon pollution but also because they inspire others to act.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen leading institutions like Bates commit to clean energy, they show the wider community what\u2019s possible. Working with Bates, where as students many of our employee-owners first developed their passion for climate and clean energy, has been an honor for ReVision Energy. We look forward to continued collaboration in the years to come.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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