Melrose Middle, High Schools Get Rooftop Solar Panels

With more than 1,200 solar panels installed atop the roofs of Melrose Veterans Memorial Middle School and Melrose High School, Melrose Public Schools will go partially solar moving forward.

Framingham-based Ameresco, Inc. installed a 301-kilowatt photovoltaic (PV) solar panel system on the roofs of the two schools. When factoring in the existing 50-kilowatt solar system on the middle school, the 1,204 solar panels combined produce 351 kilowatt-hours of electricity, according to a city press statement.

"The solar arrays and online production data are a great teaching resource for environmental science classes in grades 6-12," reads the statement. "Students will be able to see the energy output in real time on monitors inside the schools."

In the spring, the Melrose Board of Aldermen approved installing the solar panel system. With the Aldermen's blessing, Mayor Rob Dolan was able to sign a 20-year energy management services contract with Ameresco, which will allow the city to purchase electricity from the panels at a lower rate than Melrose currently pays National Grid.

The city didn't incur any capital costs for the solar panel installation work, Dolan told a few dozen people attending a press conference Tuesday morning in the middle school library.

"The City of Melrose partnered with Ameresco on a project in an investment of well over $2 million to take everything from these solar panels to wrapping pipes to putting in new fixtures to stabilizing temperatures in our three oldest schools, Winthrop School, Hoover School and Horace Mann School, as well as the major investments we've made in the Winthrop School in terms of air quality and heating," Dolan said. "...We will meet our Green City obligation of decreased energy efficiency through the leadership of (Energy Efficiency Manager) Martha Grover."

On behalf of Gov. Deval Patrick and Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs Richard Sullivan, Steven Clarke, assistant secretary for Energy Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy & Environmental Affairs, congratulated Melrose for completing the solar energy project.

"...Today, there are 327 megawatts of solar energy installed in Massachusetts, and it's projects like this one in Melrose that have made that possible," Clarke said, adding that Massachusetts was among the top 10 states in the country for solar installations. "More solar was installed in Massachusetts in 2012 alone than was installed in all previous years combined."

Following Clarke's remarks, Dolan recognized the efforts by State Sen. Katherine Clark and State Rep. Paul Brodeur for "taking our grant and shepherding it through the bureaucracy of Boston and advocating for us every day. (Otherwise) we would not see the return on our hard work at City Hall."

Brodeur, who was in attendance, said "the city does not stand still" when it comes to making changes to improve in areas of energy efficiency.

"When we can walk into the building and see a monitor that shows what the energy use is and know that there is solar on the roof, it's inspiring," he said. 

Marc Draisen, executive director of the Metropolitan Area Planning Council, said for more than 40 years of the organization's 50 years in existence they primarily dealt with land use issues. However, over the past several years MAPC has gotten involved with the challenges presented by energy.

Ameresco's services were secured through a regional Energy Services Agreement coordinated by MAPC and the owner's representative services provided by Cadmus, with funding assistance from the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources' Green Communities Grant Program, according to the statement.

"Ameresco...has been working closely with Melrose to implement not only this project but a whole series of projects throughout the city that are going to save money, improve reliability, improve the presence of renewable energy use here and we think that is a wonderful plan," Draisen said. 

Jim Walker, director of Solar PV grid projects for Ameresco, said government employees and volunteers have been "pulling together because they believe in renewable energy and sustainability."

During a tour of the blue solar arrays on the roofs, Grover said that the panels will be connected to the power grid before the end of the year.

Check out our video coverage and photos from the rooftop tour of the solar panels installed at the schools.