Consolidated Communications Signs New Community Solar Agreements to Boost Green Energy Efforts

Fiber provider Consolidated Communications announced the signing of its first two community solar agreements. The use of green energy is imperative to the company’s growing sustainability efforts and helps maintain its commitment to the environment.

When businesses, organizations, or individuals subscribe to solar farms, the green energy produced is directly added to the utility grid, generating credits on subscribers’ electric bills for the value of the energy generated by their share of the farm. Community solar also helps local economies as it leads to job creation, increasing tax revenues, and generating income to support landowners.

Following conversations with multiple community solar developers across the company’s service area, Consolidated signed long-term agreements in Maine and Minnesota. The commitments, arranged with assistance from Insight Energy, increase the availability of clean power and help address climate change efforts.

The energy generated from agreements in the two states can be compared to greenhouse gas emissions from nearly 763,000 gallons of gasoline consumed.

“These commitments represent an important step in our journey to continue building a robust, sustainable business while reducing our environmental footprint,” said Bob Udell, President & CEO, Consolidated Communications.

In 2022, the company is undertaking a more formalized study of its emissions footprint, starting with the establishment of a Scope 2 emissions baseline. This baseline will help Consolidated measure and work toward reducing its overall Scope 2 emissions through future initiatives and programs.

The company has also commenced a project to switch to LED lighting across more than 400 locations, and also a range of other energy conservation efforts to improve efficiency and further reduce operational emissions.

“At Consolidated, we’re working hard to sustainably deliver the critical broadband infrastructure our customers and communities rely on,” said Eric Dunmire, Senior Director of Facilities, Consolidated Communications. “These agreements allow Consolidated to contribute to cleaner energy for our communities and protect our environment in a cost-competitive way.”