Solar

Solar Investments a 'No Brainer' on Some Farms

Fri, 13 Nov 2020 06:03:33 GMT

Farmers find renewed interest in renewable energy

There are more than a few ways farmers could benefit from solar energy—from drying crops to heating livestock buildings or offsetting energy costs. Still, this renewable energy source is largely ignored.

Newer data is needed, but as of 2011, USDA reported just 8,000 U.S. farms and ranches tapping into solar power. Here are several examples of how producers have approached solar energy additions to their operations.

Merrill Farms, a fourth-generation Salinas, Calif., vegetable and berry producer, worked with Alta Energy to install solar systems on its most unproductive land. The project will generate 1.6 megawatts (MW) of electricity per year, adding up to $12 million in gross energy savings over the next 25 years.

In total, solar energy will offset around 80% of the farm’s electricity consumption, says Ross Merrill, CEO.

“My family has been stewards of the land since 1933,” he says. “We intend to continue this tradition using best practices and new technologies.”

After sitting down with Alta Energy and conducting a thorough financial analysis, Merrill says deploying solar energy on the farm was a “no-brainer.” The operation used the 30% federal income tax credit and accelerated depreciation, and chose a financial structure that required virtually no money down. Merrill Farms is using the energy savings to pay off the loan.

Salinas, Calif., is also home to lettuce grower Taylor Farms, which just completed a 1-MW installation with REC Solar at a retail facility in Gonzales, Calif., bringing it to a total solar footprint of 200 MW. Using a blend of wind and solar renewable energy sources, Taylor Farms can offset more than 25% of its energy consumption during peak periods.

“We know it’s the right thing to do,” says Nicole Flewell, director of sustainability at Taylor Farms. “Not only are we taking care of the environment, but we’re providing ourselves with reliable and cost-effective energy sources.”

Just a hundred miles or so up the road, California cheesemaker Joseph Gallo Farms is closer than ever to becoming 100% energy independent.

Third-generation dairy farmer Peter Gallo installed 7,840 solar panels on eight acres. The 2-MW fixed-array system meets about half of the operation’s energy needs, he says.

“This project aligns with the work we’ve been doing for 13 years to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and transition to green, renewable energy that is generated right here on the farm,” he says.

Gallo Farms also operates one of the largest and longest-running methane digesters in the state. Between the two sources, Gallo says he’s one step closer to becoming a net-zero energy dairy farm and cheese plant.

Solar energy has a bright future on U.S. farms and ranches. As the cost of technology edges down, and with struggling commodity prices, the lure might be as tempting as it has ever been, as North Carolina tobacco, peanut and cotton grower Dawson Singletary told Bloomberg News earlier this year.

“There is not a single crop that we could have grown on that land that would generate the income that we get from the solar farm,” he says.

Soybeans to Solar: Boom is Boon for Minnesota Landowners

Fri, 13 Nov 2020 06:02:51 GMT

When John Frey of Mankato received an inquiry about putting a solar array on his land, he didn’t need to be persuaded on the merits.

Renewable energy was already his sole focus after retiring as a dean at Minnesota State University. Solar power, he said, is a virtual requirement if we’re to wean ourselves off fossil fuels.

When 40 acres of solar panels go up on his rural Lake Crystal land, perhaps this May, he’ll be looking at it as part of a global solution to climate change.

That’s a view shared by the manager of the project, Nathan Rogers of Ecoplexus, The Free Press reported.

“Every kilowatt hour produced by solar is one not produced by nuclear or fossil fuels,” he said. An installation of this size in Minnesota powers about 500 homes.

Even as it’s changing the world, solar power is changing Minnesota. Responding to tax incentives and new mandates, the state’s largest utility, Xcel Energy, is making an unprecedented investment in solar.

In south-central Minnesota, landowners are seeing new opportunities and local governments are figuring out how to accommodate fields of panels. A typical 40-acre project represents more than 30 football fields’ worth of arrays.

Finding a suitable site is among the first steps of starting a solar array. Rogers said developers look for flat, dry land, preferably close to a power substation.

Power lines connecting a solar array to a substation typically have to be upgraded, so a shorter distance between the two means a smaller upgrading cost.

Dean Rengstorf, whose family owns land south of Nicollet, figured that’s how solar developer SunEdison found him.

“They probably draw a circle around substations and start contacting potential renters who might be interested in this kind of thing,” he said. “It doesn’t hurt to listen, so we did.”

The family would eventually sign a 25-year lease with SunEdison with an option to extend it for five years afterward.

Even so, “We had a million questions,” he said.

The family liked the idea of the solar array having a wildlife benefit, too. Though tall grasses can’t go under the panels, they can go around and among them.

“Once the footprint is done and the panels are done, they said they’d work with us on getting tallgrass for pheasants and milkweed for monarchs,” Rengstorf said.

But they also wanted to know how their property would be changed over that time and what it would take to bring soybeans back when the panels are a memory.

“That’s one of the concerns we had as a family,” he said. “If the solar thing doesn’t work out after five years, 10 years and they have to decommission, we have to put it into tillable acres.”

The posts to which the panels are attached are simply driven into the ground without concrete and can be removed. The panels and equipment have enough salvage value that companies will be incentivized to remove them, he said. And the county requires renewable energy companies to pay for cleanup once a solar farm stops producing power.

The power lines that run to the solar arrays are buried 3 or 4 feet down. They wouldn’t be removed after the panels are gone, but are buried deep enough that they wouldn’t get in the way of farming equipment.

Though plenty of projects are making it through counties’ regulatory process, the bigger hurdle lies with Xcel Energy’s approval to connect to the grid, called an interconnection agreement. But Rengstorf said the solar developer plans on starting construction in May.

“SunEdison told us this is No. 1 in the queue,” he said.

Like other solar gardens in Xcel territory, SunEdison will be able to sell memberships in this project to Xcel customers in its home county, Nicollet, as well as any bordering counties.

Rengstorf said SunEdison has told him they intend to market to larger corporations.

“Green energy is green energy no matter who you sell it to,” he said. “Our family was on board with that whole concept.”

Frey said his lease agreement with Ecoplexus pays him a fixed rate, but the company’s revenue will depend on changing energy prices.

“From their perspective, I’m sure they’re betting solar energy is going to be more valuable at the end of this period than at the beginning,” he said. “That’s what I’m assuming they’re betting on.”

The boom is also benefiting at least one local solar installer — Zinniel Electric of Sleepy Eye.

“Yeah, it’s been a definite increase in our work, which is great,” owner Tim Zinniel said.

Superior Sales to launch solar system

Fri, 12 Aug 2022 21:07:16 GMT

Superior Sales, Hudsonville, Mich., plans to switch on its new rooftop solar panel system in early August, said president Randy Vande Guchte.

The system originally was scheduled to go online last year, but it became necessary to reroof the facility, which delayed the project, he said.

The move will be a major expenditure upfront, he said, but will result in significant savings over time.

Energy costs will be cut to near zero during the summer, but not quite as much later in the year because of the winter cloud cover, he said. But he pointed out that energy usage is not as high during the winter.

The company also is sharing a new warehouse in Benton Harbor, Mich., with Pompano Beach, Fla.-based Edward L. Myrick Produce.