Equal Exchange, a Fair trade worker-owned cooperative providing organic coffee, tea, chocolate and other goods, partnered with PV Squared on a 560 kW solar project for their roastery in West Bridgewater. Both Equal Exchange and PV Squared are worker-owned cooperatives and are committed to building a more equitable, democratic and sustainable world.

“Installing a solar array at our roastery in Massachusetts contributes to delivering on our mission of  building a fair and environmentally sound alternative trading system. It reduces our environmental footprint, contributes to positive economics for Equal Exchange and demonstrates the power of cooperation between cooperatives.  We are excited to flip the switch and generate more energy than we use,” says Todd Caspersen, Co-Owner and Vice President at Equal Exchange.

The 560 kW solar array has over 1,400 solar panels and will offset 562 tons of Carbon Dioxide (CO2) on an annual basis. This is equivalent to CO2 emissions from 561,900 pounds of coal burned and 57,400 gallons of gasoline consumed.

“It is not every day that PV Squared gets the opportunity to work with another worker owned cooperative — Todd and the Equal Exchange team were wonderful to work with. I appreciated their thoughtful questions at each step along the way and their coffee is amazing!” said Karen Ribeiro, Worker-Owner and Commercial Design & Sales Consultant at PV Squared Solar.

Installation was completed in October 2020, and socially distant safety standards were implemented throughout the build process.