(Credit: Pixabay)The largest rooftop solar array in Washington state has been installed by a hop supplier. Yakima Chief Hops (YCH), a farmer-owned hop supplier for the brewing industry, has announced their latest solar panel installation for a total of 3,706 solar panels.
The company’s headquarters are based in Yakima, Washington, known as the hop capitol of the world. Surrounded by hop fields of local family farms, YCH has multiple facilities across the valley. With the longer days unique to the Pacific Northwest, YCH utilized these buildings to house their own solar project.
YCH’s solar array spans across six buildings, covering a total of 70,000 square feet with 3,706 solar panels and producing 1,414,766 kwh of electricity annually. YCH is able to capture 15% of their entire electricity demands and offset their annual emissions by 1,000 Metric tons.
YCH partnered with Ellensburg Solar to complete the installation of the solar array. To date, YCH has invested more than 2 million dollars in renewable energy solutions as they work towards energy independence. Additionally, YCH teamed up with local energy suppliers Benton REA and Pacific Power & Light to conduct an energy management assessment. YCH will begin implementation of a 1.2 million kwh energy savings uncovered during the assessment.
The brewery industry and its suppliers have been implementing renewable energy measures as of late. In February, Devil’s Canyon Brewing Company became the first craft brewery in Northern California to implement carbon capture technology and reduce their CO2 emissions. Large craft breweries like Sierra Nevada have recovered CO2, a natural waste product of beer fermentation, but this technology was previously too costly for the average craft brewer.
Devil’s Canyon partnered with Earthly Labs to use a plug-and-play carbon capture technology called CiCi, which enables craft breweries to capture up to 100,000 pounds of expended CO2 a year and reuse it to carbonate and package beer.
