Philly Set to Celebrate Completion of Solar Farm Powering Municipal Buildings
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. — Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker, city officials and members of the municipal energy authority are set to gather at City Hall on Tuesday to celebrate the long-awaited completion of the Adams Solar Project.
The 70 MW facility not far from Gettysburg has been in the works since 2018, and its completion was delayed by the coronavirus pandemic.
As of Tuesday morning — when the gathered dignitaries will “flip the switch” on the project, the 230,000-panel solar farm will be providing Philadelphia’s municipal buildings with roughly 25% of their electricity needs.
Better still, it will be doing so at the locked-in price of $44.50 per megawatt, which was negotiated in 2018 and is about 15% lower than current electricity rates paid by the city.
Development of the project was overseen by Philadelphia’s Office of Sustainability, a department that works with partners around the city to improve quality of life in Philadelphia neighborhoods.
The Municipal Energy Office, housed within OOS, is responsible for managing the municipal energy portfolio and its contribution towards carbon reductions.
The Philadelphia Energy Authority runs the Philadelphia Energy Campaign, a $1 billion, 10-year investment in energy efficiency and clean energy projects to create 10,000 jobs. To date it has supported over $904 million in projects and created over 7,600 jobs.
A 230,000-panel solar field in rural Adams County will soon put the city of Philadelphia closer to its goal of powering all of its buildings with renewable energy by 2030.
With the completion of the Adams Solar Farm, the city of Philadelphia is getting about 30% of its power, in total, from renewable resources.
Dan can be reached at [email protected] and @DanMcCue
