Locust Point’s Porter Street Apartments go 100% solar

A residential building in Locust Point’s McHenry Row development is now operating on 100% solar energy.

The Porter Street Apartments, which contains 223 units, was configured with a new energy grid system to allow for solar power in studio, one- and two-bedroom apartments as well as common area, according to developer 28 Walker Associates.

“We designed the building for all-inclusive living so we were able to use one master utility meter for the entire building. This gave us a unique opportunity to operate the entire project utilizing solar power. In a traditional apartment building set up, the landlord would only have control over common-area utility procurement,” Alex Mandel of 28 Walker said in a statement.

28 Walker partnered with MD Energy Advisors as it sought out renewable energy. With solar power, the firm said it could lock in stable pricing for 20 years, whereas a traditional energy contract would be four years.

The power is coming from a solar array located in Frederick, Maryland.

“The offsite solar solution is perfect for this project as it allows us to utilize solar power in a location that otherwise wouldn’t be a good fit for solar,” Mandel said. “The long-term contract that we have in place with the Frederick array comes with a low electricity rate that is passed onto our residents.”

We’ve seen interest in using solar on a larger scale lately around the community. Johns Hopkins recently signed an agreement allowing two-thirds of its energy needs to come from solar. In Northeast Baltimore, developers picked to build a new group of homes in the Tivoly Triangle shined a light on plans for homes to generate all of their power from renewable energy sources like solar.