Cenergy Power (Cenergy) and Poindexter Nut Company (Poindexter) have just finalized an agreement to expand Poindexter’s existing 1.1 MWdc solar capacity by another 1.4 MWdc. The expansion projects comprise of two solar photovoltaic (PV) systems sized at 297.6 kilowatts (kWdc) and 1078.8 kWdc for the Fresno County-based Walnut grower and processor. This latest expansion places Poindexter among Ag businesses with the largest distributed solar capacities in the Central Valley.
Due to Poindexter’s exponential load growth and rising utility power charges since the installation of its existing system in 2012, the addition of the new solar systems made a lot of economic sense and will boost Poindexter’s overall solar generation to nearly 4 million kWh of clean solar power annually. This reduces the amount of Poindexter’s utility power usage at its walnut processing operation by up to 85%. The environmental attributes of Poindexter’s solar arrays are equivalent to the avoidance of 3 million lbs. of coal burned from the earth’s atmosphere annually. Both Cenergy and Poindexter are eager to break ground on the expansion solar projects.
“After verifying several years of solar production from our existing system which proved to be on track with projections and the continuous growth of operation, I felt it made sense to expand our solar efforts. This expansion will provide a complete offset of the majority of Poindexter Nut Company’s farming acreage. We are very excited to work with Cenergy once more and look forward to breaking ground next quarter.” – Mike Poindexter, CEO, Poindexter Nut Company.
