N.B. solar energy installer grows as city invests in renewables

BEAUMONT SOLAR completed a 61.1-kilowatt solar energy array on the roof of New Bedford's Abraham Lincoln Elementary School in December 2011, one of five municipal projects the firm has done recently and one reason it has grown in the last seven years from 11 employees to 35. / COURTESY BEAUMONT SOLAR CO.
BEAUMONT SOLAR completed a 61.1-kilowatt solar energy array on the roof of New Bedford's Abraham Lincoln Elementary School in December 2011, one of five municipal projects the firm has done recently and one reason it has grown in the last seven years from 11 employees to 35. / COURTESY BEAUMONT SOLAR CO.

NEW BEDFORD – Solar power is picking up steam in New Bedford and Mayor Jon Mitchell, state energy officials, education leaders and business executives are showcasing the city’s emphasis on renewable energy at a press conference Wednesday.

One of the city’s solar success stories is Beaumont Solar Co., a full-service solar engineering procurement and construction company.

“New Bedford is a great place for solar. We had 11 employees when I came to the company seven years ago and now we have 35,” said Beaumont Solar President and CEO Phillip Cavallo, who is participating in the event. He said his company, which began in 1913 as a sign manufacturing and installation company, has made a 100 percent transition to solar work.

“Same skills, different market,” said Cavallo.

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“The city leaders are really supporting going green and doing renewable energy, and it saves money,” said Cavallo, whose company has done five municipal projects, including three schools, a community center and a municipal building.

New Bedford’s many new solar projects are creating jobs, saving taxpayer dollars by cutting city utility bills, helping to clean up formerly contaminated properties and contributing to science education, according to a press release.

Beaumont Solar also has projects in Rhode Island, said Cavallo, including a 330-kilowatt roof-mount system at All American Foods at Quonset Point, a 406-kilowatt roof-mount project at Gannon and Scott in Cranston, and a 50-kilowatt roof mount project at Newport Vineyards in Middletown. The power from those three projects is being bought by National Grid, according to Beaumont Solar Project Manager Scott Milnes.

The company also built a 500-kilowatt ground mount array at an office park in Middletown, with the power there also being bought by National Grid.

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