Projects

Solar Development with Perdue Farms

Service Category:   Solar
Market Sector:  Industrials / Manufacturing / Commercial
Region: United States/Canada

Key Objective
Perdue Farms, a privately held and family owned company that is the largest supplier of premium poultry products on the East Coast, sought to reduce energy costs and energy price uncertainty, while considering sustainable solutions to reduce their environmental impact.

Our role in project
Pace Global, in our role as corporate Energy Manager for Perdue, identified solar as a potential opportunity for select Perdue facilities, including locations in Delaware and Maryland, based on our working knowledge of the solar renewable energy credit markets in those states.   Pace Global performed solar project feasibility analysis and conceptual design to quantify and validate the opportunities for Perdue.

Pace Global, in partnership with Standard Solar as EPC and installer, then developed two projects with Perdue totaling 3.7 MW.  As Perdue preferred third party financing of the solar projects, Washington Gas Energy Services was selected to provide financing and, as owner, sell solar electricity to Perdue at guaranteed prices that represent both energy savings and price certainty for Perdue.

Results
Two Ground-mounted, solar photovoltaic systems, including a 1.2 MW system at Perdue’s headquarters in Salisbury, MD and a 1.5 MW system for Perdue’s feed mill and grain facility in Bridgeville, DE, achieved successful commercial operations in 2011.  These two projects include more than 11,000 solar panels, resulting in one of the largest commercially-owned solar power systems in the eastern United States.  The systems will generate a combined average of 3,700-megawatt hours of electricity each year, or the amount of power used by 340 typical U.S. homes. At peak production, the panels will produce as much as 90 percent of the electrical demand for each Perdue facility, while reducing Perdue’s carbon footprint by 3,000 tons per year.