Massachusetts Cranberry Bog Hosts Community Solar Plant [Video]

The site of a cranberry bog in Carver, Massachusetts now serves double-duty as a community solar plant after receiving Permission to Operate approval on November 26.

The Carver Solar project, owned by New York-based solar developer and operator Syncarpha Capital, sits on 28 acres leased by E.J. Pontiff Cranberries Inc. in an overall 765-acre plot otherwise used for cranberry bogs.

According to Syncarpha Capital, the community solar installation has a 7.1 MW-DC capacity, along with a 4 MW, 2-hour battery storage system, with the generated energy to be shared among local residents and institutions. The energy will be distributed to recipients by energy provider Eversource Energy via the state’s solar incentive program known as Solar Massachusetts Renewable Target (SMART).

Around 350 low-income residents, as well as Tufts University and Milton Academy, will receive discounted solar energy credits through the project, which is expected to generate around 9,500 MWh of clean energy in its first year of operation.