These cranberry bogs come with a side of solar

Two cranberry farms in southeastern Massachusetts are harvesting berries beneath working solar panels, in what may be the first projects of their kind in the United States or the world. The approach shows how farmland can produce both food and renewable electricity, offering one possible answer to disputes over where to build solar installations.

The Kingston site combines a 4.4-megawatt solar array with a 13.5-megawatt-hour battery; the Plymouth array has a capacity of 1 megawatt. Both use community solar, selling power to customers, and are managed by longtime cranberry farmer Iain Ward. Massachusetts adds 9 cents per kilowatt-hour to its standard incentive for qualifying dual-use solar projects, while cranberry bogs also have an advantage as protected wetlands that cannot be developed for housing or commercial use.