Solar and Battery Storage Shine Above Old SuperFund Chemical Site in Massachusetts
Carbon-free solar energy and battery storage generation now reign atop a one-time Superfund environmental cleanup site which followed the decades-old closure of a polluting chemical manufacturing facility in that location.
Engineering and construction developer Distributed Energy Infrastructure (DEI) has completed the hybrid project in Acton, Massachusetts. The DEI renewable energy project consists of 7.1 MW of solar and 4-MW battery storage system.
Syncarpha Capital owns the Action solar-storage farm and Terrasmart was the racking provider.
"Projects like Acton show what it takes to responsibly bring clean energy to communities while addressing the challenges of building on historically contaminated land," said Sean Harrington, President and CEO of Distributed Energy Infrastructure, in a statement. "By transforming a brownfield into a productive solar and storage site, we're expanding access to renewable energy, strengthening the local grid, and putting otherwise unusable land back to work."
DEI utilized several hazardous materials handling safeguards during development at Acton, including minimized excavation, adaptable designs around existing structures and regulatorily approved removal of asbestos where discovered.
Acton was the location of a factory owned by W.R. Grace & Co. which contaminated local soils and nearby drinking water wells. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) eventually stepped in with its Superfund site cleanup program.
In December 2007, the EPA agreed to a $34 million bankruptcy settlement with W.R. Grace which helped finance the cleanup of 32 Superfund sites across the country.
The newly constructed solar and storage development will increase tax revenue for the community.
"Brownfield redevelopment is a powerful way to expand clean energy access while addressing the legacy of industrial contamination," said Graeme Dutkowsky of Syncarpha Capital. "This project demonstrates how DEI's thoughtful, safety-first approach to building brownfield solar projects can turn an underutilized site into a long-term source of reliable power and local economic value."
About the Author
EnergyTech Staff
Rod Walton is senior editor for EnergyTech.com. He has spent 17 years covering the energy industry as a newspaper and trade journalist.
Walton formerly was energy writer and business editor at the Tulsa World. Later, he spent six years covering the electricity power sector for Pennwell and Clarion Events. He joined Endeavor and EnergyTech in November 2021.
He can be reached at [email protected].
EnergyTech is focused on the mission critical and large-scale energy users and their sustainability and resiliency goals. These include the commercial and industrial sectors, as well as the military, universities, data centers and microgrids.
Many large-scale energy users such as Fortune 500 companies, and mission-critical users such as military bases, universities, healthcare facilities, public safety and data centers, shifting their energy priorities to reach net-zero carbon goals within the coming decades. These include plans for renewable energy power purchase agreements, but also on-site resiliency projects such as microgrids, combined heat and power, rooftop solar, energy storage, digitalization and building efficiency upgrades.