Atlanta-based developer Renewvia Energy Corp. recently completed solar arrays for two Georgia-based agriculture companies, the American Peanut Growers Group LLC (APGG) and the Baxter Brothers Poultry Farm.
APGG, a peanut-processing facility in Donalsonville, had selected Renewvia to engineer, design, procure and construct APGG’s largest solar project to date. Providing over 40% of the company’s total power consumption annually, the 1 MW installation works in conjunction with the Georgia Power Advanced Solar Initiative buy-back program.
“Presently, American Peanut Growers Group is able to regain 60-65 percent of our annual energy cost with our solar investments. Georgia Power’s solar buy-back guarantee, along with the federal tax credits and depreciation, has certainly made solar a wise choice for us,” comments Mitchell Burke, APGG’s chief operations officer.
Renewvia Energy has also completed multiple solar projects totaling 200 kW of installed solar PV power on newly constructed poultry hatcheries for the Baxter Brothers Poultry Farm.
Renewvia expects the solar systems to offset over 50% of the total cost required to operate the facility, and the project was built under the Tennessee Valley Authority Green Power Providers Program.
“By incorporating solar into the initial design of our hatchery, we were able to capitalize on the solar improvements through the conventional financing of the development supported by collateralization of the plants and coverage from the solar operations. The financial advantages created from the solar cashflows will be realized for decades to come,” says Corey Baxter, co-owner of Baxter Brothers Poultry Farm.
Photo courtesy of Renewvia Energy: The 1 MW solar array installed for the American Peanut Growers Group.
