In addition to manufacturing and marketing the SunSeeker tracker, SPG also provides turnkey solar services to the commercial sector – taking businesses through the design, engineering, install and maintenance stages of solar. The SunSeeker tracker is not only a stand-alone product for large comercial and utility projects, but is also designed into SPG’s turnkey service offering, with the agricultural community benefitting greatly from this high-performance product.
Ratto Bros. invests in the sun, capitalizing on the SunSeeker solar tracker and generating over $260,000 in savings annually
“We've had great traction in the agricultural community, especially in California's Central Valley,” said SPG's Marissa Muller. She noted that the allure of the tracker is that it can boost a energy solar project’s capture by up to 25 percent and lower operating costs by up to $200,000 annually with a 1 MW solar tracking system. She estimated that between four and five acres can make a 1MW tracker profitable in seven years, and the results experienced by tomato and nut growers in California have spurred interest in their product.
Stewart & Jasper go solar, using SPG Solar's SunSeeker solar tracker, benefiting from more solar energy, lower operating costs, and sustainable business practices
“We got an early foothold in the agricultural industry in California, and while we’d like to see some policy changes that would enable growers to make a profit by generating solar energy, the cost-savings they reap are still very attractive,” said Muller. In Europe, growers can sell excess energy captured by their solar panels to utility companies, but in California, growers accrue credits when they funnel excess energy back to the grid. It is a policy called net metering, which effectively banks excess electricity production for future credit. Growers can reach a zero-balance on energy costs, but they can’t sell any excess energy they generate; they just have credits that they can use later. While SPG would like growers to be able to sell their excess production directly to utilities, Muller still thinks the significant energy savings will continue to generate traction among California's growers.
Los Gatos Tomato Products benefits from a 1 megawatt solar tracking system that lowers operating costs and offsets 20% of their energy load at the processing plant
“We had some early adopters in the agricultural industry. As those projects have come on-line, the benefits our trackers provide are becoming broadly known throughout that close-knit community. We're getting a lot of interest from growers who have seen first-hand the benefits of solar panels coupled with our solar tracker,” said Muller. “The adoption rate amongst the agricultural community is fantastic.”
For more information:SPG Solar
gosolar@spgsolar.com
www.spgsolar.com