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Solar panels to sprout at T parking lots and garages

The MBTA today approved a deal with Omni-Navitas Holdings to install solar panels and related equipment at 37 lots and garages at T stations.

Under the 20-year deal, the company will pay the T $1.9 million in rent the first year, with a 3% increase each following year. Coupled with savings in snow-removal and electricity costs at the stations, the T expects to recoup $55 million over the length of the contract.

The T says it should take the company two years to completely outfit the lots and garages.

Garage locations include Alewife, Quincy Adams, Braintree, Woodland, Salem, Lynn and Route 128 station in Westwood, as well as Beverly Station Garage and Wonderland Station Garage. The MBTA surface parking lot locations include Haverhill, Bradford, Ballardvale, Wilmington, Wakefield, Franklin, Norfolk, Norwood Depot, Readville, Gloucester, Montserrat, Hamilton/Wenham, Halifax, Whitman, Abington, South Weymouth, North Scituate, Cohasset, West Hingham, Weymouth Landing, Westborough, Southborough, West Natick, Canton Center, Canton Junction, Hyde Park, South Acton and Hanson.

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Comments

Cover the entire Forest Hills station - it's bathed in sunlight all day long.

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Here's the plan for dealing with the potentially rapid obsolescence of the solar panels and their replacements:

" "

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Explain.

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The T doesn't have to deal with any of that - the contractor does.

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What they said, and, for good measure, PV panels now come with 20 year warranties that guarantee generation at 80% of their rated capacity. If someone comes up with something better, so what. The infrastructure remains and you swap the panel. Care to put another strawman up?

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From Ashmont to Fields Corner the roof of the red line tunnels might be another location for these solar panels.

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Take a look at the satellite view -- that box tunnel may not have any structures or streets on it, but the tree cover is fairly thick. I've always thought it might make for a nice bike path, though.

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How exactly will this not make snow removal more tricky? Presumably when the snow slides off the panels, it's going to land right back on the parking lot. Except there's now possibly more stuff in the way of the plow trucks.

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The T is a transit organization not a power production company, focus on your job mbta.

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That is why they are contracting the installation and operation out.

Meanwhile, the MassPike seems to be putting up lots of panels on areas it used to mow.

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Not just the Pike, either. MassDOT is doing it statewide. Full list of current locations can be found here: http://www.massdot.state.ma.us/energyinitiative/Solar.aspx

5.5 MW of energy being generated from what was previously just a grassy embankment? Sweet!

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And houses are residences, not "power production companies".

Unfortunately the solar panels don't cure cancer, either, so they probably shouldn't waste the effort.

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Looks like someone works for Eversource and wants to kill solar like that numbynutz moron in Belmont and many many idiots in Florida.

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I commend the MBTA for making creative use of their facilities in a way that will provide a revenue stream not built on the back of fare increases. This is a clever win-win: more clean power and better use of land, plus money for the T. Now hopefully it gets added to the budget somewhere and gets used, and doesn't just disappear into people's pockets.

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n/t

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Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Solar Land Lease At Various MBTA Parking Facilities (pdf).

Surprisingly, it doesn't state the expected capacity of all that PV. How many MW?

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According to this Patriot Ledger article, "the arrangement will generate 48 million kilowatt hours of electricity" (per what unit time?!)

Assuming that's per year, and assuming 17% capacity factor, that works out to 32.2 MW. Assuming a house gets a 5 kW - 10 kW install, that works out to as much PV as you would find on 3,220 - 6,440 houses.

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