Paramount Farms Opens Largest U.S. Single-Site Agricultural Solar Energy Plant in California
May 24, 2007 by admin
Filed under Solar News
Supported By The 2007 California Solar Initiative, The $7.5 Million, Eight- Acre Solar Energy Plant Will Alleviate Demand On Central Valley’s Municipal Power Grid During Summer Months
Paramount Farms $7.5M solar facility covers 8 acres in California's San Joaquin Valley.
LOST HILLS, Calif., May 23, 2007 - Paramount Farms, the world’s largest vertically integrated supplier of pistachios and almonds, today announced the opening of the Paramount Farm’s Solar Plant, a 1.1 mega-watt, $7.5 million solar energy plant in California’ s San Joaquin Valley. Spanning eight acres, it is the largest single-site, privately-owned, operating solar plant in the U. S. and is expected to supply about 15 percent of the energy that the company’s nut processing facility uses each year.
Solar Plant Is a Significant Agricultural “Green” Initiative
The solar plant represents a significant initiative undertaken by the Central Valley’s farming community to lessen the burden on local municipal power suppliers by generating environmentally-friendly, sustainable alternatives. According to the state’s Department of Food & Agriculture, California is the nation’s No. 1 agricultural producer and exporter with $32 billion in direct farm sales in 2005. Of California’s Top 10 agricultural communities, seven are located in the Central Valley, representing a combined agricultural value of more than $20 billion.
