The site where a coal-burning power plant operated for decades in western Massachusetts is being turned into a solar farm.
The company that owns the Mount Tom Power Station in Holyoke has announced a groundbreaking ceremony on Oct. 13 for a solar power facility.
The project will consist of more than 17,000 solar panels on 22 acres of the 128-acre site.
Holyoke’s director of planning and economic development, Marcos Marrero, said redeveloping the property posed a challenge because of contamination, the presence of endangered species, and its location in a flood plain.
" Those things inform and limit the types of uses that can be there or the magnitude of the use that can be there," said Marrero.
Solar was one of the options recommended by a local re-use study group formed after the power plant was shut down in 2014.
