Coombs Family Farms, an organic maple producer, has shifted to 1,200 solar panels on the rooftops of its production facility in New Hampshire for final grid interconnection to a 500 kW AC system.
The farming operation has selected Norwich Solar, a division of Norwich Technologies, to lead the project.
The system is anticipated to generate over 760,000 kWh of energy per year, which will cover more than 75 percent of the company’s annual electric needs for production and is enough to serve 105 homes with electricity. The new system will help reduce 541 metric tons of CO2, which equals to removing 116 cars from the road.
“The addition of solar energy is consistent with our values and will help us attain environmental sustainability goals essential to future generations,” said Arnold Coombs, Head of Marketing at Coombs Family Farms.
Coombs Family Farms has conserved more than 4,500 acres as farm and forest land, while health spouts to reduce the impact on maple trees, vacuum tubing to add efficiency, and reverse osmosis to reduce carbon footprint are amongst its other sustainable forestry efforts. Farming operations nationwide are starting to add microgrid and on-site renewables.
The company contracts maple from more than 3,000 small family farms nationwide. New England is key region for maple syrup production, with Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine producing more than 3 million gallons per year.
