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Orange, Mass., rooftop solar and battery pilot: town officials describe 220 kW array, ~205 kWh battery and a roughly $920,000 total cost
Summary
Town volunteer Bruce Scherer described a pilot rooftop solar (about 217–220 kW DC) paired with a roughly 205 kWh battery installed at Fisher Hill School in Orange, Mass.; presenters said the project was structured as a two‑year no‑net‑export pilot with grant funding making up most costs.
Bruce Scherer, a resident and unpaid volunteer who led the Orange, Mass. project, described the Fisher Hill School solar‑plus‑battery system and the multiyear community and engineering effort behind it. Scherer said the project was developed as a "no net export" pilot with National Grid and the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities so generated electricity would not flow onto the grid for the pilot period (two years). "The project at Orange, which is rooftop solar coupled with a battery is no net export," Scherer said.
Scherer gave technical figures for the installation: he said the battery is "a 205 kWh battery" and that the rooftop array is roughly "220 kilowatts on the roof DC" (other references in the session listed 217 kW DC). He said the system is expected to produce about 50% of the school's annual electricity use year over year and will provide benefits for sheltering and resilience as well as utility cost savings.
Speakers described the funding mix used to build the system. Scherer said the total project cost was about $920,000. Presenters reported roughly $144,000 from Green Communities toward the battery; about $150,000 from National Grid for the pilot; and approximately $350,000 from the MVP program (the MVP amount was described as including roughly $50,000 for an outdoor classroom). Presenters said the remainder of the project cost would be covered by the federal direct‑pay tax credit for municipalities. "So the town of Orange will wind up paying zero for the project," Scherer said, describing how grants and the direct‑pay tax credit combined to offset the town's share.
Project development required extensive utility coordination and engineering study. Scherer said Orange faced grid saturation that would have required costly grid upgrades, and the pilot arrangement with National Grid allowed the town to avoid those upgrades while testing curtailment and other integration approaches. He emphasized the role of local, persistent volunteers and town administrative support in advancing the multiyear project, and recommended procurement channels (PowerOptions and preapproved vendors) to reduce upfront design costs.
Presenters answered attendee questions about operational matters (snow on panels, ground‑mounted alternatives), prevailing wage impacts on costs, and panel lifespans. They cautioned that the pilot project's hardware and one‑off engineering raised costs and that subsequent projects should be less expensive. The presenters said more detailed project documents and photos would be posted online and invited follow‑up by email.
