Ameresco, Inc. and the City of Missoula Montana held a "flip the switch" event to celebrate the completion of a new 545 kW direct current (DC) behind-the-meter, non-export solar photovoltaic (PV) array at the City of Missoula's wastewater treatment plant.
The City of Missoula selected Ameresco to design, build, own, operate, and maintain the 948-panel ground-mounted solar PV array under a 25-year solar energy agreement which required zero upfront capital funding from the city. As the largest behind-the-meter, non-export solar PV array in Montana, the project is expected to produce more than 700,000 kWh each year and offset the city's wastewater treatment facility's annual electricity consumption by more than 20%. In total, the project will save the City of Missoula over $7,000 in annual electricity costs while also reducing their scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions by nearly 8,000 MTCO2e over the project's life.
"Our city has a long track record of implementing forward-thinking conservation and climate change measures and the completion of the solar PV array at our wastewater treatment facility is another demonstration of our commitment to sustainability," said Ross Mollenhauer, Engineering Manager for the City of Missoula. "We are thankful to our partners at Ameresco for helping us maximize our investment in clean energy and for producing work that will enable the city to lower our electricity consumption and emissions, and in turn move us towards our goal of carbon neutrality."
In January 2013, the Missoula City Council adopted the Conservation and Climate Action Plan (CCAP) with a goal to reach carbon neutrality by 2025. As part of the CCAP, the City of Missoula has implemented a number of initiatives and projects to support citywide decarbonization. As a non-export solar PV system, the electricity generated by the solar PV at the wastewater treatment plant will be consumed on site reducing operating costs and emissions associated with the wastewater treatment processes.
"It's been a pleasure to work with a partner who shares the same passion and zeal for taking climate action as we do," said Britta MacIntosh, Senior Vice President, Western Region and London Operations at Ameresco. "We are grateful to the City of Missoula for trusting us with the design, development and construction of the new solar array, and are thrilled that we can deliver clean energy solutions that help the city work toward its carbon neutrality goals and create a healthier environment for its residents."
The City of Missoula and Ameresco's local Montana team began construction on the solar array during the summer of 2022 and reached completion at the end of March 2023.