The agricultural industry is one of the largest consumers of energy in the world, as modern farming technology and techniques rely directly on oil, gasoline, electricity, diesel, and natural gas. According to the United States Department of Agriculture, “In 2014, the agricultural sector consumed 1,714 trillion BTU of energy, accounting for 1.74 percent of total U.S. energy consumption,” and the numbers have continued to go up every single year.
Not only does this energy consumption have a major impact on the environment, but it also costs farmers thousands of dollars every year. The good news is that there is an alternative energy solution out there that can save farmers a significant amount of money and reduce their environmental impact: agricultural solar panels. From your commercial solar panel experts at Premier Renewables, here is a brief rundown of solar panels for farms and why they’re worth getting.
Dependable Power
Anyone who works in the agricultural industry knows that many of the things farmers depend on most are also the most unpredictable, like access to water (especially during California’s drought and wildfire season), labor, and market conditions, such as the cost of natural gas and oil. As a solar company that specializes in commercial, industrial, and agricultural solar panels, we understand how stressful this can be and how one bad season can cause farmers to struggle just to put food on their own tables.
Solar farms can alleviate the stress farmers experience in an industry that depends on sporadic variables, like the Earth and the weather, as solar energy is constant throughout the entire year (especially here in San Francisco and the rest of middle California) and can propel them through otherwise tough and expensive seasons. In some cases, solar power even replaces the need for natural gas and electricity altogether, paying for itself two or three-fold over time.
Energy Savings
As previously mentioned, commercial farms and other large-scale agricultural projects spend thousands of dollars on commercial utilities every year, given that they are constantly planting, watering, fertilizing, and harvesting their crops. It takes a lot of energy for agricultural sprinkler systems and fertilizers to make their rounds through the fields, not to mention the expense of processing and packaging crops for shipment to grocery stores across the country.
Solar farms can save farmers thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of dollars every year in utilities, as just a few hours of harvested sunlight is often more than enough energy to power your farm’s operations for the entire day. On top of that, state and federal rebates, grants, tax credits, and other financial incentives greatly reduce the upfront cost of agricultural solar panels, which helps them pay for themselves much more quickly. We are fortunate to live in a state with an average of 284 sunny days per year and with a local government that rewards both small-scale and commercial farms for going green.
Invest In Agricultural Solar Panels From Premier Renewables
Interested in learning more about the benefits of solar farms for California agriculture? Contact Premier Renewables online or visit us today at one of our seven locations in Bakersfield, San Luis Obispo, Clovis, Fresno, Kingsburg, Paso Robles, or Salinas, CA. We look forward to helping you go green with custom solar panels for your farm!