(Credit: SolarEdge)Associated Grocers of New England (AGNE) has installed what it says is the largest rooftop solar project in New Hampshire at its distribution center in Pembroke.
The 1 megawatt array was installed at the distribution center and it is estimated that it will offset nearly 20% of the building’s energy consumption per year, according to the company. It also will reduce carbon emissions by approximately 1,100 tons annually.
The project is a part of AGNE’s sustainability strategy, which included setting up the Associated Grocers Green Awareness Committee to look at ways to reduce AGNE’s impact on the environment. The company completed smaller projects, but the committee saw a larger energy efficiency opportunity in the distribution center project.
The 500,000 square-foot facility is the hub of AGNE’s business and is continuously operational. The site, which includes energy-intensive refrigerators and freezers, requires a large amount of power to stay operational.
According to Business Energy Advisor, non-refrigerated warehouses in the United States use up to 6.1 kilowatt hours of electricity each year but that increases to nearly 25 kilowatt hours a year in those that use refrigeration, making energy efficiency even more of a priority for those buildings.
Midwestern grocery store chain Meijer is another food service company that has looked to combat similar energy consumption by piloting a geothermal project for refrigeration and making solar agreements to help power its facilities. Similar efforts by businesses to use localized energy projects include six Bimbo Bakery locations in California adding microgrids, Sheetz securing a power purchase agreement and renewable energy to power its stores in Pennsylvania, and Oatly using oat waste to help produce energy to power its production plants.
AGNE says the large roof surface on the distribution center has the capacity for an up to 2.5 megawatt system, but New Hampshire has a 1 megawatt net metering cap on solar installations. According to the New England Real Estate Journal the array adds approximately 1% of New Hampshire’s total solar capacity.
The system is produced by SolarEdge and was installed by ReVision Energy. AGNE says the solar project’s energy savings will result in a return of investment in less than nine years.
