Amp, a global energy transition platform, developer, and operator of renewable energy assets, announced this Thursday it is going to install 100-megawatts of community solar projects in the US Northeast by year’s end.
Firstly, the company announced it has broken ground on a portfolio of wholly-owned Community Solar projects in New York state. Moreover, in Massachusetts, the company has yet another portfolio under construction. After finishing with these two portfolios, the company will be near to installing the milestone 100MW.
The New York portfolio includes 11 projects, with 75MWdc of solar paired with 27MWh of battery energy storage upstate. The assets will provide electricity bill savings to participating subscribers; will also allow Amp to optimally dispatch energy from the batteries based on the solar generation and grid pricing signals.
However, these projects will also help the state of New York to achieve its climate and sustainability goals; including the recently increased goal of ensuring at least 10GW of installed solar capacity by 2030; while also improving the resilience and quality of the upstate grid.
On the other hand, the Massachusetts portfolio includes three projects and 20MWdc of solar; paired with 24MWh of battery energy storage. These projects will provide bill credits to subscribers with the batteries participating in the ISO-NE wholesale services markets.
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Amp to deliver substantial benefits to communities
Furthermore, the benefits of the portfolios will also reach landowners, towns, and other local stakeholders. Indeed, these projects will allow Amp to help local farmers maximize or repurpose their land and create hundreds of local jobs while establishing long-term support for local schools.
In fact, for the particular case of the New York projects, the projects will include financial scholarships and educational workshops; both to primary and post-secondary institutions based in the surrounding communities.
In addition, Amp has partnered with Eden Renewables on five of these sites to holistically focus on setting industry-leading standards for biodiversity and ecological enhancement. Indeed, Amp intends to boost agricultural use and community educational benefits through the use of pollinator-friendly native plants and apiaries as well as bird and bat habitats.
About the matter, Jared Donald, Executive Vice-President and Head of Amp’s US operations said. “This set of projects marks Amp’s largest assemblage of concurrent community solar projects in the US to date, and represents more than $230M in project investment.”
Finally, Amp partnered with home improvement retailer Lowes and Hannaford Supermarkets to provide New York’s residents with monthly credits on their electricity bills.
