The solar power project, a partnership between Mariani, groSolar, and SunEdison celebrated its activation on December 2nd with a “flipping the switch” ceremony.  Guests and speakers included company officials, solar power advocates and Vacaville Mayor Len Augustine.

Besides the positive impact it will have on the environment, the project is particularly notable for what Mariani paid to construct the system; zero.  The partnership efforts of groSolar and SunEdison constructed and financed the system at no cost to Mariani.  Under a long-term solar power services agreement, SunEdison will maintain the system and sell the electricity produced by it to Mariani at costs less than retail rates for traditional energy sources.

“This is a great example of how being environmentally sensitive can also be financially beneficial,” said Frank Griffin, Vice President of Construction for groSolar, the company that designed and constructed the project.  “This type of project is helping to verify the truth that doing something good for the environment is also good for the corporate bottom line.”

Located on seven acres and comprised of more than 5,800 photovoltaic (PV) panels, the system will produce 1.9 million kilowatt hours of electricity per year.  Over 20 years, the system will produce enough electricity to power 3,230 homes per year and offset more than 30 million pounds of carbon dioxide that otherwise would have been emitted by producing electricity from fossil fuel sources.  

Besides the involvement of SunEdison and groSolar, the project also featured cutting-edge products and services from many of the solar power industry’s top companies. MP2 Capital was instrumental in creating and developing the project, and Evergreen Solar’s highly efficient PV panels, Thompson Technology Industries’ innovative sun tracking systems and SMA’s industry-leading solar inverters were all used on the state-of-the-art project. Construction began in August of this year and was completed in early November.