Acushnet Planning Board Unanimously Approves 5-Megawatt Main Street Solar Array

ACUSHNET -- December 5, 2025, Acushnet Planning Board approves 5-megawatt Clemsway Solar array with $348,043 bond and four special conditions. The board voted unanimously Friday to grant a special permit and site plan approval to Clemsway Solar LLC and Rewild Renewables for a proposed solar array at 1094 Main Street, capping a review process that opened in October. Chair Mark Francois attached four special conditions: a decommissioning bond of $348,043, escalated from a current-day removal estimate of $232,000 at 2.5 percent annually over 20 years and reviewed by GAF Engineering; a $40,000 vegetative screening surety; a requirement to investigate relocating emergency spillways away from the property line, to be coordinated with the Conservation Commission at its December 10 hearing; and a planting plan to replace as many as possible of approximately 75 trees over 12 inches in diameter cleared from the site. The board separately approved a lot consolidation at 44 Cushing Lane for Raymond White and White Farm Inc., and a minor site plan modification for a separate solar project replacing a wetland fill crossing with a 20-foot-wide bridge, keeping total wetland disturbance below 5,000 square feet. Applicant representative Zachary Farkas said the project aims to break ground in April and begin producing power by end of 2026.