Commercial, Solar  -  April 21, 2023

Missoula Water Plant Implement Solar Array

The City of Missoula, Montana will be using a new 545 kW direct current (DC) behind-the-meter, non-export solar photovoltaic (PV) array at its wastewater treatment plant.

Ameresco will design, build, own, operate and maintain the 948-panel ground-mounted solar PV array.

The project is expected to produce more than 700,000 kWh each year and offset the city’s wastewater treatment facility’s annual electricity consumption by more than 20%. It was completed at the end of March 2023.  The city of Missoula signed a 25-year solar energy agreement that did not require any capital funding.

The solar project will save the city of Missoula over $7,000 in annual electricity costs while lowering their Scope 2 GHG emissions by nearly 8,000 MTCO2e during the project’s life.

As a non-export solar PV system, the electricity generated by the solar PV at the wastewater treatment plant will be consumed on site, lowering operating costs and emissions associated with the wastewater treatment processes.

“Our city has a long track record of implementing forward-thinking conservation and climate change measures and the completion of the solar PV array at our wastewater treatment facility is another demonstration of our commitment to sustainability,” said Ross Mollenhauer, Engineering Manager for the City of Missoula in a statement. “We are thankful to our partners at Ameresco for helping us maximize our investment in clean energy and for producing work that will enable the city to lower our electricity consumption and emissions, and in turn move us towards our goal of carbon neutrality.”

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