Live Oak Farms, a fourth generation family owned grower/packer/shipper of California-grown tomatoes and peppers, has announced the completion of a 632-kWdc solar array in Merced County, California. This system is a ground-mounted system with 2,040 solar panels and designed to offset 100% of the kilowatt hour (kWh) electricity load of eight aggregated meters for Live Oak’s irrigation usage.
The newly installed system is actually an expansion of a previously installed 272-kW roof-mounted system by Cenergy Power for Live Oak Farms in 2011. The initial roof-mounted system was designed to offset the majority of electric load from Live Oak’s packing/shipping facility in Le Grand.
The latest expansion along with the initial system brings Live Oak’s total solar capacity to 904 kW DC, solar production to over 1.35 million kWh annually, and brings Live Oak Farms one giant step closer to energy independence and progresses their determined goals towards a more environmentally sustainable future. The environmental equivalences attributed to the two systems combined equate to the following totals annually: (i) eliminating 2 million lbs. of CO2 from the earth’s atmosphere, (ii) removing 200 cars from the road or (iii) reducing 340 tons of waste sent to landfills.
“We at Live Oak are sincere about our sustainability efforts and therefore constantly find ways to improve our best practices and further reduce our carbon footprint,” says Bob Giampaoli, Chief Executive Officer and third generation farmer at Live Oak Farms. “After verifying several years of solar production from our existing system, it proved to be on track. We are extremely pleased with our partnership with Cenergy Power and hope to expand further as we continue to grow at Live Oak Farms.”
“This expansion is yet another example of Live Oak’s continued commitment to the environment and sustainable farming practices,” said Bill Pham, CEO of Cenergy Power. “We have been impressed with Live Oak’s sensitivity to their carbon footprint and so we’re pleased to deliver this solar expansion that will benefit their company both environmentally and economically.”
News item from Cenergy Power