NEW BEDFORD — The New Bedford Park and Ride will be one of the first in the state to feature a new solar carport.

The state Department of Transportation in conjunction with the Department of Energy Resources has announced that construction operations will begin soon for three new solar carport projects at Park and Ride locations in New Bedford, Harwich and Plymouth.

The New Bedford location was selected because it is in Eversource territory, making the incentives more attractive under the Solar Massachusetts Renewable Target or SMART program, and the lot was recently updated with new pavement, a bus shelter and electric vehicle charging stations so solar arrays were seen as a good fit.

State officials met with city officials about 10 years ago in regard to the property and had discussed ideas for improvements.

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The carports will provide additional lighting, a more transparent clear sight line from the roadway and some shelter from the elements for patrons using the lot. The carports, recent upgrades and vegetation overgrowth removal are intended to help deter littering and other illicit activities.

The carport installations are being partially funded through grants provided by the DOER Leading by Example Program and will provide a source of clean energy and sheltered and illuminated parking facilities for customers, according to a news release.

"Solar carports efficiently make use of public space to expand clean energy and provide a quality customer experience to facilitate carpooling, and the DOER appreciates the partnership with MassDOT to collaborate on our collective efforts to decarbonize the transportation sector,” Department of Energy Resources Commissioner Patrick Woodcock said.

The projects are part of MassDOT’s solar initiatives that seek to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, promote renewable energy generation, use under-utilized state-owned land and save energy. MassDOT installed similarly designed carports at its Hopkinton facility.

The Park and Ride solar carport projects when combined with other recent MassDOT solar projects will provide up to three megawatts of power, which represents an anticipated energy savings of approximately $7 million over a 20-year period.

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The Leading by Example grant program awarded the noise barrier and three Park and Ride projects with a total funding amount of $710,000. MassDOT expects all of these projects to be fully operational in about a year and a half.  

Meanwhile, solar projects including the installation of electric vehicle charging stations continue statewide.

Efforts continue to install electric vehicle fast-charging stations at various service plazas located along Interstate 90 and Level II dual-port electric vehicle charging stations at the New Bedford, Bourne and Harwich Park and Rides and at two other locations in western Massachusetts.

Standard-Times staff writer Kathryn Gallerani can be reached at kgallerani@wickedlocal.com. Follow her on Twitter: @kgallreporter. Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to The Standard-Times today.