Can a Rockport farm generate solar power and blueberries at once? [Video]

ROCKPORT, Maine — Paul Sweetland brings a bucket-like object with him to work on a blueberry farm in Rockport — not to collect Maine’s hallmark fruit, but to protect his head. 

That’s because this farm is a little unusual: Looming over the narrow rows of wild blueberries are 8-foot-tall solar panels. It’s both a farm and a power plant, which means he needs a hard hat.

“Some panels are above my head and some are down at my head level. Some end up down closer to my waistline. But the edges of the panels are such that if I didn’t wear a hard hat, I could end up injuring myself,” Sweetland told The Maine Monitor.

The hard hat is a minor inconvenience for Sweetland, but is emblematic of a broader question …