As a major step towards accomplishing its sustainability goals, the City of Lebanon contracted ReVision to install eight solar arrays for the city. The Landfill Maintenance Building solar array was completed in Fall 2019, along with 6 others by the end of 2019. The City Hall array will be installed in 2020 when renovations are completed.
Across their lifespan the eight arrays will eliminate well over 27 million pounds of carbon pollution, and they'll save the city's taxpayers well over $700,000. The 818 kW project will produce over 900,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity in the first year, or about 23% of the city's total electricity usage.
Zero upfront cost is one of the strongest drivers of solar adoption by towns and cities, enabled by the common financial approach known as a 'Power Purchase Agreement', or PPA. Instead of directly purchasing a solar array, municipalities are partnering with local impact investors who finance the construction of the solar project, after which the city or town simply agrees to purchase the solar electricity at a rate below what the utility charges for brown power from the grid.
