Solar energy will help run Westwood Station
Developers of a planned 4.5 million-square-foot multiple-use community in Westwood will install solar panels on their first office building, which they hope to start on this year.
The team of Cabot, Cabot & Forbes, New England Development, and Commonfund Realty Inc. said that a five-story building of up to 150,000 square feet, located near the MBTA's Route 128 Station, will feature a $574,000 solar energy demonstration project.
The building is part of a first phase of the mixed-use Westwood Station development, which includes a town center with 350,000 square feet of retail space and at least 350 units of housing.
Jay Doherty, president of Cabot, Cabot & Forbes, said the project is in its last couple of months of permitting. The solar electricity generating system is part of the developer's commitment to an environmentally friendly project, he said.
It will be built with a $228,000 grant from the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative's Renewable Energy Trust Fund.
Doherty said it will supply less than 10 percent of the power needed by the office building but will be valuable because it will provide information about how to expand the use of solar generation in similar projects.
Although solar energy use is increasing in residential settings, "There is a limited history for suburban commercial operations," Doherty said. "This is an opportunity for us to get our feet wet."
Most Westwood Station buildings may not be certified as meeting the rigorous green building standards of the US Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program. But Doherty said the office building will be certified, and the developers are applying to be part of the council's pilot program for certification of multiple-use neighborhoods built with easy access to public transit.
Doherty said government subsidies and tax credits at the state and federal levels may increase, making solar energy more cost-effective nationwide.
But solar power cannot provide what is needed for a large development like Westwood Station, which will require 30 megawatts of electricity when completed, Doherty said.
"My guess is if we put panels on every single roof we couldn't do more than 1.5 megawatts," he said.
Thomas C. Palmer Jr. can be reached at tpalmer@globe.com. 
