SunEdison has announced that it has secured 20 power purchase agreements (PPAs) with 16 public housing authorities across Central and Western Massachusetts, representing a total capacity of 39.5 MW. At least 11 ground-mounted PV plants in various parts of the state will supply this electricity through the state's virtual net metering program.

Some of these plants are already operational, and some are under construction and should be commissioned in the next four months. The remainder are scheduled for completion in the next 12-18 months. All are in the 1-5 MW range.

SunEdison estimates that these PPAs will save the agencies an estimated US$60 million in avoided electricity costs over 20 years. The company plans to own and operate the projects with financing partners including TerraForm Power, SunEdison's yieldco.

Massachusetts recently raised its caps on net metering from 3% to 5% of load for public installations. SunEdison says that it is not concerned about hitting the caps with these projects.