Progressing on its journey to a more sustainable and energy-independent future, Astraglass Innovations, formerly Andrews Glass, has installed a 203.3 kW rooftop solar system at its Vineland, New Jersey production facility.
The 484-module system is projected to generate more than 266,000 kWh of clean electricity in a single year, offsetting nearly 40% of the facility’s energy consumption and reducing annual CO2 emissions by around 116 tons.
Astraglass will also be taking advantage of New Jersey’s Successor Solar Incentive Program, which qualifies the company to receive $100 per MWh of energy produced by the system for the next 15 years, effectively creating a new business revenue stream.
“The future is looking even brighter for Astraglass following its decision to invest in making its business more sustainable,” says Kyle Shroufe, Co-Founder of Opal Energy Group, which designed, installed, and will maintain the solar system. ”Manufacturing glass products requires a significant amount of electric consumption on site and solar power is one of the only levers to truly offset that consumption while simultaneously creating a new revenue source for the business. Combined with tax credits and bonus depreciation, Astraglass is forecast to achieve an ROI in just three years.”
To meet Astraglass’ high energy production demand, Opal Energy installed bifacial modules upgraded to smart modules with SolarEdge Power Optimizers. Bifacial modules increase energy yield by producing power from both sides of the module. The Power Optimizers will allow the modules to operate independently even when on the same string. This means that if at least one module is shaded and experiencing a loss in production, the other connected modules won’t be impaired.
Open Energy’s decision to use SolarEdge technology allowed Astraglass to secure 100% funding for the solar project, which was supplied by Sunstone Credit, a company specializing in providing financing to small-to-medium sized companies for solar energy project installation.
