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Today at Perdue’s Salisbury, Md., headquarters, Governor Martin O’Malley and other officials will help the company celebrate the completion of one of the largest solar energy power systems on the East Coast.
The two-phase, two-site project installed more than 11,000 solar panels at the corporate headquarters in Salisbury and a feed mill in Bridgeville, Del. The Delaware facility was completed in August, and the ribbon-cutting for the corporate project is being held today.
Standard Solar Inc. of Rockville, Md., installed the ground-mounted solar panels, covering the equivalent of approximately 10 football fields, on Perdue property. Almost half are at the Perdue corporate offices in Salisbury and are visible to passers-by on westbound U.S. Route 50. The others are at the company's feed mill in Bridgeville, Del.
The systems, which will be owned and operated by Washington Gas Energy Services, Inc. (WGES), will generate an average of 3,700 megawatt hours of electricity each year, or the amount of power used by 340 typical U.S. homes. At peak production, the panels will produce as much as 90 percent of the electrical demand for each facility.
Perdue has entered into a 15-year agreement with WGES to purchase electricity generated by the solar panels at guaranteed prices.
"Stewardship is one of our company's core values, so this is a perfect fit for the way we do business," said Steve Schwalb, Perdue's vice president of Environmental Sustainability. "Using solar power means we'll have a clean energy source that doesn't pollute or create greenhouse gases, while lowering Perdue's energy costs over the life of the project."
Schwalb estimated the clean electricity from the solar panels will reduce Perdue's carbon footprint by 3,000 tons per year, the equivalent of eliminating greenhouse gas emissions from 300,000 gallons of gasoline per year, or nearly 4.5 million gallons through the life of the contract.
The solar proejct is Perdue's latest step in its commitment to being environmentally friendly. Last year, Perdue announced a renovation of its corporate office that is expected to earn a Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) Gold rating for environmental leadership from the U.S. Green Building Council. Three years ago, Perdue signed a first-in-the-industry Clean Waters Environmental Initiative with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to help poultry growers adopt best pollution prevention practices. Ten years ago, Perdue built the nation's first commercial poultry litter processing plant, the only process that is verifiably removing excess nutrients from the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
"By hosting this project, Perdue is also helping both Maryland and Delaware achieve their statewide solar energy goals," said Harry Warren, president of WGES of Herndon, Va. "The Maryland and Delaware Renewable Energy Portfolio Standards Acts call for a growing contribution from solar energy each year through at least 2022, and Perdue's project will contribute significantly to Maryland's and Delaware's total solar power production goals for 2012 and beyond."
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