Berkshire Community College in Pittsfield is clobbering every Ivy League school in at least one area: next fall, it's going solar. A $3.5 million project is already out to bid to install more than 1,800 solar panels on six of the campus's newly renovated rooftops, laying the photoelectric groundwork for producing more than 400,000 kilowatt hours annually. The configuration's projected capacity will generate approximately 25 percent of the school's annual electrical consumption, and its completion will mark the largest roof installation of its kind at any Massachusetts educational institution.
The Massachusetts Department of Capital Asset Management (or DCAM, the agency that oversees construction and management of major public buildings) has given the project a green light, with BCC having secured adequate funding through a combination of anticipated future energy savings and federal stimulus money for clean and renewable energy systems.
State Rep. Daniel E. Bosley, Vice-Chair of the House Committee on Bonding, Capital Expenditure and State Assets, praised BCC President Paul Raverta as "innovative" and said that BCC's installation "will be a model for other institutions around the state." Bidding on the project is still open. Adams-based Berkshire Photovoltaic Services, which has already successfully installed large solar arrays in the area (including a 30-kw array at Springfield Technical Community College and a 52-kw array at the Mass MoCA art museum complex in North Adams that produces roughly 50-60,000 kwh annually), has so far declined to bid on the contract.
