Federal funds help power PA produce distributor's rooftop solar
Danielle Smith, Producer
Wednesday, November 13, 2024
By Sara Millhouse for Resource Rural.
Broadcast version by Danielle Smith for Keystone State News Connection reporting for the Resource Rural-Public News Service Collaboration
Wholesale fruit and veggie distributor Four Seasons Produce in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania knew that efficiency all comes down to business. "Our journey started with, 'We need to cut costs,'" said Randy Groff, Four Seasons' director of facilities and energy. It didn't take the company long to turn to their utility bill as a potential source of savings.
Groff used to be "director of facilities," but energy was added to his title in 2010. That's how important energy costs are to the bottom line of a business that runs a 400,000-square-foot warehouse where fruits and veggies have to be kept cool. Storage temperatures range from 28 to 55 degrees Fahrenheit, depending on the product.
America's rural-based produce shipment companies like Four Seasons play a vital role in ensuring a steady supply of fresh food across the country, linking agricultural heartlands to urban centers. However, the sheer scale of agricultural production and distribution necessitates significant energy inputs - and plenty of hard work.
It's a "low-margin, fast-paced" business. "You have to sell a lot to make a lot," Groff said.
Groff is a 28-year employee for the family-owned Four Seasons, which started from the back of a pick-up truck at a farmer's market and now has 900 employees. The company distributes organic and conventional produce to independent retailers and chains throughout the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast. Its family of companies includes a logistics operation, a truck fleet, and imports.
Previously, Groff worked as an electrician, and he combines that experience with his "love of data" to determine how much energy and money the company is saving.
The company started with lighting retrofits and slowly worked up to larger and larger energy projects. Employees got excited about sustainability and formed a company-wide Green Team. "It just kind of took off," Groff said.
Two solar projects now produce about 35 percent of Four Seasons' energy use. Solar arrays cover the entire roof of the warehouse.
Four Seasons installed its first 1.3-megawatt solar array in 2018, utilizing a 26 percent solar investment tax credit. They recently added a second, 1.7-megawatt array, using the federal tax credit and depreciation at 37 percent. The tax credits that funded these upgrades were made available through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).
"Between those two, it's over a million dollars of savings just in the tax depreciation and the tax credit," Groff said. Four Seasons also received their utility's maximum rebate, adding another half-million in savings.
Another energy efficiency project added VFDs (Variable Frequency Drives) in the thousands of motors used in warehouse refrigeration. VFDs control motor speed and torque by varying the frequency of the electricity coming into the motor.
Rebates on VFDs and solar panels help make the return on investment "a no-brainer," Groff said. He suggests businesses pay attention to rebate line items on utility bills. "If you're not taking advantage of the rebate program, you're actually paying us to do it," he said.
Groff also recommends that businesses talk up-front to their utility about interconnection requirements when considering solar. It took six months after installation for Four Seasons' latest array to be fully interconnected.
During the day, the huge warehouse is totally "off-grid," Groff said. Live stats on the company's website show energy usage. "It's exciting to be able to see that graph go to zero and stay at zero, for about six hours," he said. "Come three o'clock in the afternoon, the sun's starting to go down, and we start going back on the grid."
Groff is currently exploring thermal storage as a method of capturing additional energy produced during peak sunlight and using it to offset the warehouse's peak demand hours in the middle of the night.
Four Seasons has cut its electric bills by 60 percent since 2005. It was the first refrigerated warehouse in the country to earn an Energy Star and the company's truck fleet plans to increase mileage through the EPA's SmartWay Transport Partnership. The result isn't just a reduced carbon footprint for Four Seasons. The savings ensure the integrity of America's food supply chain.
"It's funny, because it didn't really start as 'being sustainable,'" Groff said. "But yet it turned into a sustainable practice, because we've been doing it for so long."
Sara Millhouse wrote this article for Resource Rural.
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