Ameresco completes 18.6 MW solar facility in Frederick, Maryland

Ameresco has announced that it has completed 18.6 megawatt (MW) direct current (15.0 MW alternating current) solar facility located at the U.S. Army Garrison Fort Detrick Army installation in Frederick, Maryland.

The large-scale solar project, now operational, is comprised of 59,994 solar panels installed across 67 acres of land throughout Area B at Fort Detrick.

Ameresco designed, built, owns, operates and will maintain the solar facility and Fort Detrick will purchase the renewable electricity from Ameresco through a 25-year PPA. The project will serve about 12 percent of Fort Detrick’s annual electric load requirements. Fort Detrick will consume all electricity supplied by the facility.

“This project is an excellent example of the extraordinary results we can achieve through collaboration,” said Honorable Katherine Hammack, Assistant Secretary of the Army for Installations, Energy, and Environment. “Renewable energy produced on Army installations increases energy security, which is essential to mission effectiveness.”

The electricity to be generated by the facility is the equivalent of powering 2,720 homes per year and it will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 19,000 metric tons annually.

“Ameresco is honored to be a renewable energy partner to the U.S. Army and Fort Detrick through this long-term solar energy initiative, and we applaud the Army Office of Energy Initiatives and Defense Logistics Agency Energy for their outstanding leadership in supporting this large-scale renewable energy project,” said Nicole A. Bulgarino, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Federal Solutions, Ameresco. “We are very proud to support the Army’s goal of deploying one gigawatt of renewable energy by 2025 through this partnership at Fort Detrick.”