South-central Pennsylvania borough makes significant commitment to solar energy

Rachel McDevitt

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I report on energy and the environment for StateImpact Pennsylvania at WITF.

My work focuses on responses and solutions to climate change in the state legislature and communities around the state. I trace my interest in these issues back to my time as a Girl Scout and this episode of Rocko’s Modern Life.

I look forward to winter just for the chance to ski a few times each season. I try to keep myself from doom-scrolling on my phone by keeping my hands busy knitting and learning to play the piano.

I grew up in Cambria County, Pa. and graduated from Temple University. I started at WITF just after Christmas in 2014.

Courtesy Sun Tribe

Chambersburg in entering a 20-year power purchase agreement with Virginia-based Sun Tribe on a solar facility like the one seen here.

June 4, 2020 | 11:29 AM

A borough in south central Pennsylvania could soon generate a quarter of its electricity from renewable energy.

The Borough of Chambersburg’s council recently voted unanimously to enter into a 20-year power purchase agreement with Virginia-based Sun Tribe on a 19.5-megawatt solar farm.

The groundbreaking is expected later this year in neighboring Hamilton Township, in an area known as Elk Ridge. Sun Tribe will cover the upfront costs of the equipment and will be paid back as Chambersburg ratepayers buy electricity generated from the solar panels. The project isn’t expected to create any new jobs.

Chambersburg got a $500,000 alternative energy grant from the state, which it matched with money from an existing bond. That money will be used to connect the new solar facility to the borough’s substation.

Council president Alice Elia said the borough started investing more in green energy a few years ago. It already gets some of its power from landfill gas.

The new solar farm is expected to generate about 10 percent of electricity in the borough, which is home to more than 20,000 people.

“Together, with that and the landfill gas… about 25 percent of our power will be renewable and it will be created right here in Chambersburg,” Elia said.

She expects ratepayers will see immediate savings when the project is finished, which is planned for summer 2021.

Elia said the decision to go forward with the project makes sense for the environment and for ratepayers.

“It will allow us to purchase and to create power at a cheaper price than we could get it from a non-environmentally friendly way,” she said.

Chambersburg is the largest of the state’s 35 municipalities that provide electric service to their residents. Borough leaders said the new facility represents a significant commitment to solar power that will help fuel economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.

A switch to renewables is one way to lower carbon emissions, which experts say must be cut to avoid the worst effects of climate change.

Other cities and institutions are turning to central Pennsylvania for large-scale solar projects. Penn State is building a solar farm near its Mont Alto campus. Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania have both announced major projects in central Pennsylvania.