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By Canary Media
By Canary Media
Canary Media
A new solar installation on Martha’s Vineyard is set to lower utility costs for hundreds of low-income, year-round residents on the island best known as an upscale vacation destination. The project is the first to come out of a new program that channels solar savings to households grappling with high electricity bills.
“The project is a really powerful example of how the clean energy transition can advance both affordability and community agency,” said Tina Bennett, CEO of PowerOptions Connect, a clean energy nonprofit and one of the partners on the project.
Martha’s Vineyard, a 96-square-mile island made up of six towns, sits just south of mainland Massachusetts. It attracts wealthy and often famous summer visitors, and the average home price is well over $1 million. However, much of the year-round population of roughly 20,000 is far less affluent, working multiple seasonal jobs or running small businesses to keep up with a high cost of living, including some of the highest energy bills in the nation.
The new solar development attempts to ease this struggle a bit. The project began in 2023 when PowerOptions Connect received a $45,000 grant from the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, an economic development agency, to build an innovative community-benefit model for solar. What emerged was the SolarShare program, which uses donated funds to lower upfront project costs, allowing more benefits to flow to consumers in need.
Hospital system Mass General Brigham offered up its workforce housing project, associated with Martha’s Vineyard Hospital, as the first site. In 2024, the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center provided a second grant, this one for $150,000, to implement the first project within the new framework. PowerOptions Connect also partnered with Vineyard Power, an island-based organization that manages funds provided by the developer of the controversial offshore wind project Vineyard Wind 1, which finished construction just off the coast in March.
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Half of the financial benefits generated by the 138-kilowatt solar system will offset electric bills for the hospital workers who live at the site where the panels are installed. The other half — an estimated $550,000 over 25 years — will be shared among island households facing high energy burdens. Vineyard Power will administer the solar-savings payments through its existing Resiliency and Affordability Program for income-eligible households.
Every year that the system hits at least 70% of its projected annual production, $22,000 will be paid directly to the roughly 500 households that are part of Vineyard Power’s program. That payout stays the same every year, regardless of market conditions or energy prices.
“When you can deliver direct cost benefits to those folks, they are seeing immediate impact,” said Lisa Dobbs, senior program manager at the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center. “This is a really meaningful, tangible benefit.”
The solar array started operations in June, and participating households will start receiving payments at the end of the first year. Vineyard Power’s Resiliency and Affordability Program committee, which includes representatives from each town, the county, and the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah), will make decisions about exactly how the savings are allocated over the life of the project.
At the same time, PowerOptions Connect is deep in discussions with members — who are located across Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maine, and Rhode Island — about developing more projects on the same model, each with its own unique set of local partners.
“Projects like this aren’t possible without really strong partnerships,” Bennett said.
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Sarah Shemkus is a reporter at Canary Media who is based in Gloucester, Massachusetts, and covers New England.
Electrification
Energy efficiency
Solar
Green steel
U.S. regions
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