HOLYOKE — The former Mount Tom coal-burning power plant site is going green as its owner constructs 17,208 solar panels on 20 acres of the Route 5 property.
Engie North America, formerly GDF Suez, began preliminary work on the solar project this summer. Officials expect construction to be complete in December. The 5.76 megawatt solar farm will sell energy to city-owned Holyoke Gas & Electric, according to Engie spokeswoman Carol Churchill.
A groundbreaking ceremony was held Thursday.
The Mount Tom Power Plant closed in 2014 after more than five decades in service. The 146-megawatt, coal-burning plant could not compete with cheaper natural gas, Churchill said at the time.
The coal-burning plant, on a 128-acre site along the Connecticut River, employed 28 people when it closed.
Once complete, the array will be operated remotely from an Engie biomass facility in Fitchburg by two employees who live in the Holyoke area, according to Churchill.