Adams, MA

The 1.35MW Adams Community Solar Garden is the first of several large-scale shared solar facilities Apis Energy Group is proud to be developing jointly with Colorado-based Clean Energy Collective.  The Adams project began to take shape in the Fall of 2011.  Apis Energy Group was working closely with several landowners in the Adams, MA area in our search for the prime location to host a utility-scale PV project.  At the time, the Community Shared Solar program was not yet in effect in Massachusetts, so our development plans instead included power offtake discussions with several large electricity users in Northern Berkshire County, ranging from a private manufacturing facility to a municipal streetlight authority.

In the Fall of 2012, Apis Energy Group and EOS Ventures, of Hancock, MA, joined together to bring the Adams project forward, and by early Spring, 2013 contracts were in place with the owners of Spring Hill Farm to host the solar facility.  The next several months were spent moving through the design and permit process, and during this time the new MA solar programs were announced, rolling out Department of Energy Resources’ Community Shared Solar program.  It didn’t take long for us to see that the program was a perfect fit for our development objectives.  In September, 2014 the project transfer was complete, and the Colorado-based Clean Energy Collective came on-board to serve as Owner and Operator of the community solar farm.  Record snowfall in Massachusetts throughout the winter of ’14-’15 kept construction on-hold for several months, but even before the snow had finished melting, Clean Energy Collective had mobilized the team from M+W Solar, and construction was underway.