Public Projects

Existing Systems

By the end of Fiscal 2017, the Town of Natick will have approximately 1.8 megawatts of roof-mounted solar photovoltaic arrays on six of our school buildings, the Community Senior Center, DPW Complex and William Chase Arena.

These panels were installed at no-cost to the Town through Power Purchase Agreements with Ameresco, in which the Town leases the space on its roofs for the installation of solar panels and then purchases the electricity generated from Ameresco at a low rate. The panels support approximately 20% of Natick’s municipal electricity needs and are expected to save the Town more than $3 million over the course of the 20 year lease.

A dedicated website that includes a dashboard will real-time information about each of these systems’ output is available at: Solar Dashboard

Aerial View of Natick High School Solar Arrays

NHS Solar

Planned Projects

The Town of Natick is exploring opportunities to construct solar canopies over public parking lots, with a focus on the parking lots serving Natick High School, Memorial Football Field and Community Senior Center. The solar capacity of these projects has been estimated at nearly one megawatt, and is expected to result in more than $1 million in savings over the 20 year contract. Similar to the roof-mounted arrays, the Town plans to finance these projects as part of a Power Purchase Agreement.

The Natick Planning Board approved design plans for these projects in March 2017 and the Town hopes to construct these systems in Summer 2018.