Cambridge, Massachusetts, has signed the largest-ever digital energy buy settlement (VPPA) by a US metropolis to assist construct a utility-scale photo voltaic farm in Illinois.
The 135 megawatt (MW) mission on 800 acres in Champaign County, known as Prairie Photo voltaic, will add clear vitality to the grid, and Cambridge will earn renewable vitality certificates (RECs) for making it attainable.
These credit will profit residents and companies enrolled in Cambridge’s Group Electrical energy Program, which already provides secure and aggressive electrical energy charges. This marks Cambridge’s second main renewable vitality deal, following final 12 months’s VPPA for a wind farm in North Dakota. Collectively, these initiatives are accelerating town’s efforts to chop carbon emissions extra successfully than ready for the Massachusetts grid to go absolutely renewable by 2050.
Dennis Carlberg, chief sustainability officer at Boston College, mentioned, “For the reason that New England Grid is likely one of the cleanest within the nation, and these initiatives are in grids slower to transition, they need to scale back almost twice the worldwide greenhouse gasoline emissions than if the identical initiatives have been positioned within the greening New England grid. That is really exceptional work that I hope others will replicate.”
Why photo voltaic in Illinois?
The Prairie Photo voltaic mission, anticipated to come back on-line in summer time 2026, might be constructed close to a former coal mine. Illinois residents will profit from new jobs, native funding, and improved air high quality on prime of the clear electrical energy the mission will generate.
Julie Wormser, Cambridge’s chief local weather officer, put it this manner: “Stopping carbon emissions in Cambridge or Illinois has the very same influence on the worldwide local weather. It is going to permit us to make a much bigger distinction extra shortly and cheaply than, say, pursuing smaller rooftop photo voltaic inside metropolis limits whereas offering native advantages to folks in Illinois.”
This method additionally helps Cambridge attain its sustainability targets with out being restricted by its small dimension and dense city footprint. With 120,000 folks in simply 6.5 sq. miles, there isn’t sufficient area for town to generate all its personal energy domestically. That’s the place methods like VPPAs come into play.
Ellen Katz from Cambridge’s Division of Public Works defined the logic: “Renewable initiatives, like this VPPA, take advantage of distinction as a result of they substitute extra carbon-intensive gasoline sources, like coal, in comparison with Massachusetts, the place many of the electrical energy is fueled by pure gasoline.”
How Cambridge’s VPPA works
Cambridge’s 50 MW digital energy buy settlement doesn’t ship electrical energy on to town. As a substitute, it commits to buying renewable vitality certificates from the mission, which helps the developer safe financing to construct the photo voltaic farm. The Prairie Photo voltaic mission might be owned and operated by renewable firm MN8 Power, whereas Sustainability Roundtable Inc. facilitated the deal via their Internet Zero Consortium for Patrons.
When Prairie Photo voltaic comes on-line, greater than half (55%) of the facility within the Commonplace Inexperienced possibility in Cambridge’s Group Electrical energy Program will come from renewable vitality. Residents can already decide to purchase 100% renewable energy at a barely greater charge.
Cambridge’s clear vitality technique
Cambridge isn’t stopping at VPPAs. The town continues to spend money on its personal yard with energy-efficient buildings, geothermal techniques, and photo voltaic installations. Native applications are additionally serving to residents and companies section out fossil gasoline use.
The town has dedicated to reaching net-zero emissions by 2050, and a giant chunk of its carbon air pollution comes from buildings and transportation. Whereas the Massachusetts grid is on observe to be 100% renewable by 2050, Cambridge is dashing up the transition by supporting new photo voltaic and wind initiatives the place they’re wanted most.
Cambridge Metropolis Supervisor Yi-An Huang summed up: “We’re growing the quantity of renewable vitality getting constructed – whether or not it’s right here in Cambridge or different components of the nation.”
What do you consider Cambridge’s huge VPPA? Tell us within the feedback beneath.
Learn extra: Wisconsin’s strongest photo voltaic farm simply obtained the go-ahead
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