California Farming Operation Now Harvests the Power of the Sun
Novato and Sonoma based SolarCraft recently completed the installation of a 35.6 kW solar panel installation at a Central Valley Farming facility in Vernalis, CA. The Farm continues sustainable farming practices with the installation of solar panels which will eliminate a significant portion of the operation’s PG&E bill, saving the company thousands of dollars in energy fees every year.
SolarCraft designed, engineered and installed the project that consists of 9 ground-mount solar arrays. The photovoltaic system is interconnected to the Farm’s commercial shop meter and also virtually offsets a separate orchard irrigation pump meter through the PG&E Net Energy Meter Aggregation (NEMA) program. The system will offset 35% of the aggregated electricity use of the two meters. SolarCraft also assisted the Farm in applying for a Rural Energy for America (REAP) grant to offset up to 25% of the cost of the solar system.
The system consists of 108 Suniva 330-watt solar panels and 3 Fronius 10 kW inverters. The panels were installed on 9 ground mount Osprey modular racking units installed with driven anchors, eliminating the need for concrete footings.
Over the next 25 years, the system will generate over 1.3M kilowatt hours of clean energy, and the electrical portion of the system was also designed to be easily expanded to 86.5kW.
The new solar power system will allow the Farm to avoid production of 2,059,439 lbs. of carbon dioxide emissions per year, which is the equivalent of removing over 3 million miles of driving over the next 25 years. That’s also comparable to the air pollution removed by 18 acres of trees.
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