Three formerly abandoned lots in Codman Square now glint with solar panels — and they're saving Dorchester residents real money. The Codman Square Neighborhood Development Corporation has completed its "Solar Commons" project, installing community solar arrays that provide discounted electricity to 120 low-income households in the surrounding blocks.
The $1.8 million project, funded through a combination of federal Inflation Reduction Act incentives, MassCEC grants, and a low-interest loan from the Boston Community Loan Fund, is the first of its kind in Boston. Participating households receive a 20 percent discount on their electricity bills — an average savings of $480 per year for families already stretched thin by Boston's rising cost of living.
"Energy justice isn't just a buzzword for us," says Gail Latimore, executive director of the Codman Square NDC. "It means making sure that the families who have been in this neighborhood for generations — not just the newcomers — benefit from the clean energy transition."
The solar gardens produce enough electricity to power roughly 90 homes and feed surplus energy back into the grid. Eversource, the local utility, partnered on the net metering arrangement that makes the bill credits possible.
Beyond the financial benefits, the project has transformed blighted properties into community assets. Benches, native plantings, and interpretive signs surround the solar arrays, creating small pocket parks. A local artist, James Pierre, designed mosaic pathways between the panels depicting the history of Codman Square's Haitian and Cape Verdean communities.
The NDC plans to replicate the model in two additional Dorchester neighborhoods by 2027 and is sharing its project blueprint with community organizations in Roxbury and Mattapan. "We want this to be a proof of concept," Latimore says, "that clean energy can be community energy."