Harvesting solar power could be the 21st century farming practice!
In New Jersey, they’re harvesting more than just vegetables at Seabrook Farms. The company announced this week that its signed a 15-year deal with SBS Energy Partners to grow solar power, too.
That’s right, Seabrook has agreed to install and maintain over 27,000 solar panels on 21 acres of its land. Resulting solar power will be enough to generate enough clean solar electricity to power 785 homes, while reducing the energy requirements of the vegetable processing and freezing operations of Seabrook Farms
VP of Engineering at Seabrook Farms, Wes Seabrook, commented:
“We did it for energy savings and cost reductions.”
Solar arrays at Seabrook Farms will generate energy and attention in New Jersey
Initial estimates show that the company will save about $300,000 per year due to the large solar array.
How is that, you ask?
The solar panel installation is mostly aimed to power the vegetable processing and freezing operations. Each year, Seabrook Farms freezes about 150 million pounds of vegetables! Construction starts within a month, and the entire system should be operational by the end of 2010.
Chalk up another solar energy point for New Jersey! We’ve reported on a number of stories showing New Jersey leading the way on this renewable resource. The state is usually within the top 2-3 states in the entire nation when it comes to solar energy generation, projects and incentives.
According to one website:
“New Jersey has some of the most beneficial solar rebates and incentives in the nation, including the state’s influential renewable energy credit (REC) program that allows renewable electricity providers, as Seabrook Farms will soon be, to sell the power they create on the open market, usually to other companies looking to offset consumption or utilities vying to meet renewable energy standards.”
What’s growing in your backyard? Why not add a solar energy crop?
Tags: new jersey solar power, sbs energy partners, seabrook farms, solar electricity, solar farm, solar panels
June 14th, 2010 at 11:50 pm
Very Cool. Go New Jersey! California needs to jump on that bandwagon in a big way, although we atre doing our part for solar research. Thanks for the article.
June 18th, 2010 at 4:32 am
Fantastic idea.Save money and produce green energy.Who knew!!!!