Prides Corner Farm Adds Solar
A self-sustaining energy supply on the roof over the heads of workers and products in their shipping area were two of the major improvements brought to Pride’s Corner Farms wholesale plant operation this year.
A self-sustaining energy supply on the roof over the heads of workers and products in their shipping area were two of the major improvements brought to Pride’s Corner Farms, a wholesale plant grower in Lebanon, CT. The 735 solar panels installed on the roofs of open-sided greenhouses built over the shipping area is expected to produce 25-percent of the energy used on the 400-acre farm.
The company received $187,184 from a USDA Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) grant that encourages renewable energy and energy efficiency investments at farms. They will receive an additional incentive of approximately $422,000 over the next 15 years in the form of a ZREC payment from the utility company.
Prides Corner Farms’ array is an example of a solar installation that takes advantage of a farm’s agricultural infrastructure, generating electricity that helps offset costs of production and makes the farm more viable. The solar panels covering the approximately 2-acre concrete shipping pad should produce about 296,600 kilowatts annually, or the equivalent of the electricity it takes to power 27 homes for a year.
