Boston Water & Sewer will install solar panels

By Erin Ailworth, Globe Staff

The Boston Water and Sewer Commission on Harrison Avenue will soon get at least 7 percent of its energy from a set of solar panels being installed on its roof, city officials said.

Electrical contracting firm Fischbach & Moore, which is headquartered in Boston, will collaborate with Newton solar developer Rivermoor Energy and Cambridge consulting firm Zapotec Energy on the $1.075 million project, which is expected to be up and running by May.

The 240-kilowatt solar array will help the commission reduce its annual energy bills by about $45,000, according to a press release. The project also is expected to create at least 15 jobs for the three months it takes to build.

"This project will not only produce clean renewable energy, but it will put people to work and stimulate our local economy," Mayor Thomas M. Menino said in a statement about the project. "I want to make Boston a healthier place to live and supporting clean, renewable projects allows us to rely less on fossil fuels like oil."

City officials said they also expect to receive about $900,000 in production incentives in the first decade that the project is running, under a state program for renewable projects.