Jan 28 2011
The Perdue Group of Companies known for food and agricultural products is planning to go solar this summer.
The 11,000 solar panels to be installed over their properties will make the company one among the largest commercial solar installations in the eastern parts of United States.
Standard Solar, a Rockville, Maryland- based company, will commence the installation of solar panels in September 2011 over an area owned by Perdue that can accommodate 10 football fields. Nearly, 50% of the solar panels will be installed over the corporate offices of the company located in Salisbury and the rest will be installed at the feed mill, owned by the company in Bridgeville, Del. The company has contracted a 15-year power purchase agreement with Washington Gas Energy Services (WGES) to buy the power generated by the solar systems at a pre-fixed price. WGES will own the solar systems and operate them to generate power. The proposed systems will generate around 3,700 MW of electricity every year, which can be conveniently supplied to around 340 average homes in the USA. During peak power generation conditions the power generated from the facilities will meet around 90% of power requirement of the two facilities.
The planned solar power generation facility will offset nearly 3,000 tons of carbon dioxide otherwise would have been generated by the company every year, which can be equated to saving 300,000 gallons of gasoline every year or around 4.5 million gallons of gasoline through the life time of the power purchase accord.