Due to the power requirements for the Commonwealth’s largest recycling campus, PPNE sought to offset its carbon footprint by adding rooftop solar.
With the addition of a 1.9 MW solar array secured in place using the PVKIT direct-attach, rail-less solar mounting solution, PPNE is not only able to offset its power usage, but it is selling power back to the grid.
PPNE decided the best way for it to offset its electrical usage was to add solar. This new facility has increased solar capacity by 1.9 MW, part of its greater 4 MW solar initiative on campus.
PPNE chose the PVKIT and S-5-V Mini clamps to secure the solar panels to the metal roof. The PVKIT’s pre-assembled components enabled solar installers to “lay & play” PV modules with tested, engineered, cost-saving, attachment. The project has enabled PPNE to further its sustainability goals. Not only is the company offsetting its carbon footprint, but it has also far exceeded what it consumes on-site and is selling power back to the grid via the local utility company through the Solar Massachusetts Renewable Target (SMART) Program, a long-term sustainable solar incentive program that promotes cost-effective solar development in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
PPNE processes/recycles glass, aluminum and recyclable plastic containers collected through Massachusetts’s bottle deposit program. PPNE identified a need for a glass processing facility as the state’s only bottle production facility closed in 2018, which left the Commonwealth limited solutions for glass handling and a large accumulation of glass due to difficulties in transporting glass to out-of-state recycling markets. The new glass processing Duchaine Boulevard facility is a necessary development for the Commonwealth to ensure the recycling of glass bottles versus disposal and/or lower value usages such as fill. The company’s main goal was to offset its carbon footprint since PPNE annually processes 3,710 tons of aluminum, 3,892 tons of recyclable plastic containers and now 50,000 tons of glass, utilizing heavy machinery and equipment that consume an enormous amount of power.
Once a Polaroid manufacturing facility (now dubbed the green energy center), PPNE recycled and repurposed a rather neglected and underutilized property, and with the addition of rooftop solar, is now generating power, providing recycling services, adding jobs locally and contributing to the economic development of the city.
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