Renewable America Announces Completion of Pearl Crop Solar Project

Renewable America, a leading provider of distributed energy resources, local small utility-scale solar+storage, and multi-customer community microgrids projects in California, announces the completion of 1.9 MWdc commercial solar projects with Pearl Crop, Inc. (Pearl Crop), a food processing company with multiple state-of-the-art facilities in central California. Pearl Crop, a family-run nut-processing business, turned to Renewable America to transform its operations through commercial solar. Its facilities have high energy demands, and Pearl Crop faced escalating energy costs. The company also has ambitious sustainability targets and recognized the need to power its operations with clean energy.

The agreement between Renewable America and Pearl Crop covers four different projects across three different locations in Ripon, Linden, and Stockton, CA. The largest site, Stockton, will use solar for 86% of its energy needs, providing Pearl Crop with an estimated $230,000 in annual utility cost savings.

“We’ve had a collaborative and beneficial partnership with Pearl Crop from agreement to completion, and it’s fulfilling to see three of the project sites running on solar power,” says Ardeshir Arian, President & CEO of Renewable America. “These projects foster energy autonomy in the local communities and contribute to our statewide carbon neutrality targets.” 

Renewable America provided a turnkey solution, serving as both developer and EPC for the four-project portfolio. By optimizing the design and installation process, the team completed work before the rollout of Net Energy Metering 3.0 (NEM), securing valuable NEM 2.0 savings for Pearl Crop. Their process maximized financial benefits while minimizing upfront costs and reducing long-term operational expenses.

Specifically, Renewable America solved multiple unique challenges in the design and installation phases. Through roof inspections and evaluations, they ensured that the site roofs could support the additional weight of the solar panels without compromising structural integrity. They also ensured that the panels would avoid shading from nearby buildings, increasing the system’s efficiency. In the installation phase, the team prevented any potential roof leaks to protect the quality of the almonds and walnuts processed by the facility.

 “Our Pearl Crop operations have high energy demands, and we’re on track for significant cost reductions from the transition to solar power,” says Ulash Turkan, CEO of Pearl Crop. “We appreciate Renewable America’s expertise, cost-effective solutions, and partnership as we celebrate this major sustainability milestone and work toward a greener future.”

Renewable America | https://renewam.com