Brown University Contracts With Retail Supplier For Solar Facility
January 18,2019
Brown University has finalized agreements for two renewable energy projects that are expected to produce enough combined solar and wind power to offset all on-campus electricity use.
Brown said that the first project - a collaboration with Constellation and Providence-based Energy Development Partners (EDP) - will create Rhode Island’s highest-capacity contiguous solar generation project across a 240-acre field on a former gravel pit in North Kingstown.
The 50-megawatt (DC) solar facility is expected to deliver 40 megawatts of converted AC power to the electrical grid.
For this project, EDP will purchase the land and develop the site in collaboration with Constellation, an Exelon company, which will maintain ownership of the solar arrays and, together with Brown, lease the land. As outlined in a 25-year energy services agreement developed in partnership with CustomerFirst Renewables, Brown will obtain and retire project-specific renewable energy credits — essentially proof-of-ownership certificates that establish Brown’s right to claim the renewable energy as its own.
The North Kingstown project is expected to produce enough electricity to offset about 70 percent of Brown’s annual electricity consumption generated through fossil fuels.
A second renewable energy project, an 8-megawatt wind power project being developed in Texas with another unnamed energy services provider, is expected to produce enough electricity to offset the rest of Brown’s annual use.