(Credit: U.S. Department of Energy)BlueWave Solar, a solar and energy storage developer, and Laketricity, a company from floatovoltaics pioneer Ciel & Terre, have signed a joint venture for projects in Massachusetts as well as plans to expand throughout the Northeast U.S region.
BlueWave has developed and sold more than 155 MW of solar projects to date, which collectively generate enough solar energy to avoid roughly 119,490 metric tons of carbon emissions annually. Ciel & Terre has installed over 230 floatovoltaic projects globally, and 21 projects specifically in the U.S. with over 162 megawatts-peak (MWp) power.
The move is significant in the expanding solar energy sector because floatovoltaics, or floating solar systems constructed atop ponds, lakes and waste-water treatment facilities, reduce the need to use greenfield land and ensure no disruption to terrestrial habitats like forests, grasslands, deserts, shorelines, and wetlands. As such, their use in commercial applications is growing and expected to continue.
It is also meaningful from a sustainability perspective because BlueWave is a Certified B Corporation. B Corp Certification requires a B Impact Assessment, which evaluates how a company’s operations and business model impact the company’s workers, community, environment, and customers. B Corp Certification demonstrates a company’s stakeholder impact for the long term by embedding it into a company’s legal structure. For its commitment to sustainability best practices, BlueWave has been named the Clean Energy Company of the Year in 2018 by the Northeast Clean Energy Council, one of the top 100 Impact Companies in the United States for each of the last two years as rated by Real Leaders Magazine, and a leading growth company by Inc. Magazine and the Boston Business Journal.
"We are thrilled to work with the world's leading floatovoltaics provider to bring floatovoltaics to New England," said John DeVillars, Co-Founder and Chairman of BlueWave Solar. "BlueWave is pioneering dual-use agrivoltaics and setting high ecological standards for sustainable site development and management. Partnering with Laketricity represents another step in our efforts to partner with those who share our core environmental protection values."
