Central Valley almond huller goes solar

 CANTUA CREEK

 February 4, 2014 9:00pm 

•  Superior Almond energizes with 1.1MW Cenergy Power solar system

•  “We’re extremely fortunate with the amount of sunshine here”

Superior Almond's solar power system

 Those pesky hulls that have to be shed to get at the almonds they contain will now meet their fate thanks to the sun that helped grow them.

Superior Almond Hulling has gone solar at its state-of-the-art Cantua Creek processing facility in Fresno County.

It’s using a 1.125 megawatt solar photovoltaic system, engineered and installed by Cenergy Power of Merced.

The solar system built by Cenergy covers about four acres of ground space. For its more than 25 years of useful life, the solar system will supply clean solar power to Superior’s main electric service.

The solar system is expected to generate over 1.8 million kilowatt hours of solar power per year, offsetting over 40 percent of the facility’s electric usage, saving Superior $5 million in electricity costs over the next 25 years.

It will also reduce the facility’s carbon footprint by 1,300 metric tons of CO2 annually.

“We’re extremely fortunate with the amount of sunshine here and had been addressing the possibility of solar power in our board meetings every year for the past four years,” says Brad Craven, general manager at Superior Almond Hulling. “We were comfortable with Cenergy’s solar power engineering capabilities, including its experience in effectively addressing end-of-line unstable voltage issues and complex interconnection requirements.”

Among almond, walnut and pistachio businesses in the Central Valley, Cenergy has engineered and installed over 15 megawatts of solar systems.

http://www.centralvalleybusinesstimes.com/stories/001/?ID=25148