Solar Power at our Roastery

By Lynsey Miller, Equal Exchange Sales Director & Vice President

When considering the assets of an organization, one doesn’t always think about the roof of a building. But when Equal Exchange was considering adding solar panels to our headquarters, our large, flat roof was a big plus!

Farmer member of Comon Yaj Noptic co-op, Mexico.

Sustainability at Equal Exchange

Arguably, Equal Exchange’s most significant contribution toward sustainability is our commitment to organic farming. We buy coffee from small farmer co-ops who farm organically, not just because it yields a higher price per pound but also because of their deep commitment to this way of living and treating their local ecosystems. 

Equal Exchange helped build a market for organic coffee in the U.S., which, over 35 years ago, when we started, seemed like a pretty “out-there” concept for many coffee buyers and consumers. Our support of organic farmer co-ops and our work to educate and influence the U.S. market has kept thousands of acres of farmland in organic production.

This is a sustainable impact to be proud of and is a bit outside the norm of what people typically consider when looking at an organization’s sustainability efforts. It’s looking not just at an organization as a finite entity but instead as one that has relationships and impacts up and down a dynamic supply chain. Because this perspective can get overlooked, we try to make it more of a conversation.

But we also want to shed a little (sun)light on a more recent move we made at our own link in the supply chain: our roastery in West Bridgewater, Massachusetts. In January 2021, we installed a solar array on our roof. 

The technical details of our solar array

We have 1,418 solar panels on our roof. That’s a lot of technology and a lot of weight! We had to invest in a new reinforced roof to install our power-generating array. As we have just crossed the 4-year mark of having these panels up and running, here are some statistics:

1,418 solar panels

installed on the roof of our Massachusetts headquarters

2,611 megawatt hours

generated over 4 years

Although there’s a range to what a megawatt hour can power, according to one calculation, this would be the equivalent of:

Powering the electrical use of

240 homes for a year

or offsetting CO2 emissions equivalent to

561,900 pounds of coal burned

or

57,400 gallons of gasoline used

Our solar panels convert sunlight into electricity, but instead of it powering our building directly, we sell it into the power grid and still buy electricity from the grid for our operational needs. Here’s how those costs have shaken out over the last 2 years:

In 2023, we spent $189k on electricity we used and were paid $109k for electricity we produced, about 58% of our electrical spend.

In 2024 (through November), we spent $159k and were paid $102k, about 64% of our electrical bills.

At the time that we installed the system, all told with costs (including a new roof), federal rebates, and projected cost savings, we expected this project to pay for itself within about 10 years. 

A collective, local energy grid

In addition to looking at the numbers for Equal Exchange, it’s helpful to place our solar array within the broader context of solar generation. Equal Exchange is now a mini solar power plant. When you zoom out and consider our output alongside other residences and companies that are also mini power plants feeding into the grid, we are collectively a system of what’s called “Distributed Generation.” There are environmental and other benefits to having a grid like this versus one based only on large centralized power plants. Electricity can be generated and used more locally. This is more efficient—when electricity has to travel far from the source to the end user, some of it is wasted in transit. As locally generated power wastes less energy in transit, it also saves costs. Multiple power generation sites also add to the stability and security of the grid.

Cooperation among co-operatives

Equal Exchange is a co-operative. My favorite definition of a co-op is when a group of people share a common need that isn’t getting met, and they band together to meet that need collectively. Equal Exchange is not only living our mission but by being structured as a co-op ourselves, we are creating a solution to the need to have meaningful work that we control collectively. 

In the co-op world, there are 7 Principles generally recognized as being at the heart of co-operatives. The sixth Principle is “Cooperation Among Co-operatives.” If there’s a way to work with other co-ops, try your darndest to do so. We had the good fortune to hire a solar company that is also a co-op to plan and install our solar system. 

PV Squared (shorthand for Pioneer Valley Photovoltaics) is an employee-owned co-op in Western Massachusetts. They were great advisors and partners in our journey, from solar consideration all the way through installation and the literal flipping of the switch. 

Photos above from pvsquared.coop

Linked by the sun

Over my years at Equal Exchange, I’ve had the extreme pleasure of visiting many of the coffee-growing communities we work with. During those trips, I’ve witnessed firsthand the farmers' craft and commitment and the many steps of coffee farming and processing. The sun plays a crucial role in coffee-growing communities, first and foremost, by fueling the coffee trees themselves through photosynthesis. 

The coffee we buy is typically in remote mountainous regions with the right combination of proximity to the equator (warmth) and high altitudes (moisture and cool evenings). Once coffee cherries are harvested at their peak red-ripeness, they are processed. An essential step in processing is drying. The sun is an influential factor in successful drying, as coffee needs to dry evenly and relatively quickly, typically over several days to a week. Coffee is spread on large cement patios or drying beds, where farmers take care to turn the coffee at the right times and protect it from rain during this period. Ultimately, the coffee beans need to reach a certain uniform humidity level to advance to the next step in processing.

It’s a wonderful thing to reflect upon: the sun shining on the trees and patios of our farmer partners and now also on the power-generating panels at our roastery. It may not technically be what electricians call a closed system, but it sure seems like a poetic one. 

Photo left, coffee cherries collected at Norandino co-op in Peru; photo right, Equal Exchange staff help spread green coffee beans on a drying patio in Chiapas, Mexico.